A New York Times Editors' Choice
I am writing this account, in another man's book, by candlelight, inside the belly of a fish. I have been eaten. I have been eaten, yet I am living still.
In the small Tuscan town of Collodi, a lonely woodcarver longs for a son. One day, Geppetto carves for himself a pinewood boy, and his handsome new creation comes magically to life. Pinocchio torments his father, making up stories - whereupon his nose grows before his eyes like an antler. When the boy disappears after one last fight, the father follows a rumor out into the sea, where he is swallowed by a great fish - and consumed by guilt. He hunkers in the creature's belly awaiting the day when he will reconcile with the son he drove away.