The Animal Man
By David McDine
A man’s dream of saving animals looks doomed, but can love help find a way?
Civil servant Norman Butcher loves animals more than people and gets a golden opportunity when he is suddenly left a decent nest-egg and dilapidated Olive Branch Farm. Now he is able to realise his life’s dream – to save circus animals and let them wander free.
But uninvited visits from a local poacher and a bumptious planning officer set off a train of events that propel him into the clutches of the tabloid press. Under siege with the paparazzi, police and student protesters up to all kinds of tricks on his doorstep, Norman unexpectedly discovers true love.
Can he extricate himself from all this unwanted ballyhoo, navigate through the legal maze and keep his beloved animals – and his new love?
Set in rural England in the Sixties, The Animal Man is a hilarious, touching story of one man’s attempt to escape his drab and loveless past and follow his passion. David McDine’s comic confection will appeal to fans of Tom Sharpe, P.G. Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh.
David McDine is a former journalist and member of the Government Information Service and lives with his wife Sue on a Kent smallholding where over the years they have kept children, horses, sheep, rabbits, chickens, dogs, cats and fish – but, as yet, no giraffes or kangaroos. He has written acclaimed naval fiction and The Animal Man series is his first venture into humorous fiction.
