A Friend of the Earth

''A comedy with teeth ... razor sharp and darkly funny'' (TIMES) ''Boyle''s prose is so good and his imagination so fertile that after a while you just sit back and are swept along'' (TELEGRAPH) ''Surreal, daring and compassionate. Easily one of the best books of the year'' (MAIL) ''Superb ... if Boyle was from this side of the pond, this is the book they''d all have to beat for the Booker Prize'' (SUNDAY TIMES) It''s 2025, and 75-year-old environmentalist and retired eco-terrorist Ty Tierwater is eking out a bleak living managing a pop star''s private zoo. It is the last one in southern California, and vital for the cloning of its captive species. Once, Ty was so serious about environmental causes that as a radical activist committed to Earth Forever! he endangered the lives of both his daughter, Sierra, and his wife, Andrea. Now, when he''s just trying to survive in a world cursed by storm and drought, Andrea re-enters his life. Frightening, funny, surreal and gripping, T.C. Boyle''s story is both a modern morality tale, and a provocative vision of the future.