To Leave with the Reindeer

A woman challenges biology and convention in her struggle for freedom: a multi-voiced enquiry into the frontier between humans and animals.

To Leave with the Reindeer is the account of a woman who has been trained for a life she cannot live. She readies herself for freedom, and questions its limits, by exploring how humans relate to animals. Rosenthal weaves an intricate pattern, combining the central narrative with many other voices - vets, farmers, breeders, trainers, a butcher - to produce a polyphonic composition full of fascinating and disconcerting insights. Wise, precise, generous, To Leave with the Reindeer takes a clear-eyed look at the dilemmas of domestication, both human and animal, and the price we might pay to break free.

‘This polyphonic novel portrays a merciless war waged by humanity on wild nature. This is the battleground where the author tears to pieces today’s education, imposed behaviours and conventions.’ - Elle (France)

‘Olivia Rosenthal’s book is like the chimerical animals she lists on the first page. It is a hybrid, a strange and disconcerting cross: a sphinx of a book, half-human, half-beast.’ - Les Inrockuptibles

‘Poetic and humorous, To Leave with the Reindeer explores our illusions, the destruction of our childhood dreams and the savagery that we hide deep within ourselves.’ - Telerama