We had been in the cottage for a week when the cormorant was delivered, that October evening.

When a young family inherit a remote mountain-side cottage in north Wales, giving them the chance to change the course of their lives and start over, the one condition of the will seems strange but harmless. They are to care for a cormorant until the end of its life. But the bird is no tame pet, and within its natural state of wildness there is a malevolent intelligence and intent towards sharp, unexpected violence. However, it is the fascination it holds for Harry, the couple’s precious only child, that really threatens their dreams of rural contentment.

A Somerset Maugham Award Winner when it was first published, the tale of The Cormorant continues to exert its considerable power.