Leemut, a young boy growing up in the forest, is content living with his hunter-gatherer family. But when incomprehensible outsiders arrive aboard ships and settle nearby, with an intriguing new religion, the forest begins to empty – people are moving to the village and breaking their backs tilling fields to make bread.
Meanwhile, Leemut and the last forest-dwelling humans refuse to adapt: with bare-bottomed primates and their love of ancient traditions, promiscuous bears, and a single giant louse, they live in shacks, keep wolves, and speak to snakes.
A runaway bestseller in Europe, told with moving and satirical prose, The Man who spoke snakish is a fiercely imaginative allegory about being truly alone as a young boy, and a nation, standing on the brink of dramatic change.
The man who spoke snakish, F KIV, 442 pages.