WGBH Forum Network; Yann Martel: Beatrice and Virgil
Description:
Yann Martel, the Booker Prize-winning author of Life of Pi, reads from his much anticipated new novel, Beatrice and Virgil.Fate can take many forms. For Henry, a writer living in a foreign city, it arrives in the form of an envelope from a reader. Instead of the usual fan mail, the envelope contains a story by Flaubert, a scene from a play featuring two characters named Beatrice and Virgil, and a note asking for Henry's help. The note is signed "Henry," and the return address is not far from where Henry lives. When Henry walks his dog to hand-deliver his response, he is surprised to discover a taxidermist's shop. Here, stunning specimens are poised on the brink of action, silent and preternaturally still, yet bursting with the palpable life of a lost, vibrant world. And when the mysterious, elderly taxidermist introduces his visitor to Beatrice and Virgil--a donkey and a howler monkey--Henry's life is changed forever.
