“What makes us human, and how do we define family? And who are the real ‘animals’?”
mourned together and loved each other unconditionally. Ivan was a bright, well-spoken child, but when he was picked up by the police in 1998, he bit and fought and howled and barked, as wild as any animal. How did Ivan survive day to
day? How did he transform from being a civilised little boy to a wild child? What makes us human, and how do we define family? And who are the real ‘animals’? These are questions I explore in The Dogs of Winter, a fictionalised interpretation of the two years that Ivan lived with the dogs. Several months after being
taken to an orphanage, Ivan was reportedly asked why he fought so hard to stay with the dogs. “With the dogs,” he said, “I felt loved and protected.” Those words set me on a long journey of research, exploration and wonder that led to these opening lines: “I dream of dogs… I dream of wet tongues, flashing teeth, warm noses…”
TERENCE BLACKER’S CITY RATS
They came to me through the fog and cold of a great city long ago – two children, alone and living wild on the streets. Their home is the hollowed-out heart of a municipal rubbish tip. I have always liked writing about outsiders and no one could be further outside normal, civilised life than my characters, Dogboy and Caz. Dogboy is 13 and has been abandoned by his parents. Surviving among the dogs in the city, and working for a ratcatcher called Bill Grubstaff, he has an instinctive understanding of animals. Caz is two years younger and has run away from a dancing school of sinister repute. Her only companion, apart from Dogboy, is a pet rat called Malaika. Rats are the other heroes of The Twyning. No animal has
fascinated me more, both in itself and in the feelings of fear and disgust it provokes in many humans. Rats have been part of my life as pets. I also see them in the wild scurrying about their ratty business most days. They are resourceful, intelligent and brave. Unlike almost any other animal, they have been shown by scientists to have empathy for one another – one rat will choose to save another before taking food for itself. They are often useful, clearing up our rubbish. Yet rats are unlikely to receive the David Attenborough
treatment. Throughout history, they have been the object of human terror, hatred and revulsion. They, too, are outsiders. One reasons for rats’ murky reputation may be their
similarity to man. Like us, they can live off a wide variety of food. They are fertile and eager in the mating department. They have even had their own internal wars. Wherever mankind has gone, rats have never been far away. In The Twyning, the rats also have powers which a mere human might consider magical. One of them, a young rat called Efren, finds Malaika, Dogboy and Caz, and takes shelter with them. Bad things are happening outside. The ‘real’ world that portrays itself as civilised turns out to be nothing of the kind. Caught up in momentous events are two different kinds of outcasts – street children and rats.
The Dogs of Winter by Bobbie Pyron Andersen Press HB Out now