Logo: Scribner

Scribner

An Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2021 by Anthony Doerr

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Scribner Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Scribner hardcover edition September 2021

SCRIBNER and design are registered trademarks of The Gale Group, Inc., used under license by Simon & Schuster, Inc., the publisher of this work.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com.

The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event.

For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

Jacket design by Jonathan Bush

Jacket artwork: Book by Flaming Pumpkin/iStock/Getty Images, Chaoss/iStock/Getty Images, Mikroman6/Getty Images, and Thepalmer/Getty Images; Castle by Musée Condé, Chantilly, France/Bridgeman Images and Bibliothèque Mazarine, Paris, France © Archives Charmet/Bridgeman Images; Birds by Kriengsuk Prasroetsung/Shutterstock; Background Clouds by Plainpicture/Heidi Mayer Spine art by Sean Gladwell/Getty Images

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021002936

ISBN 978-1-9821-6843-8

ISBN 978-1-9821-6845-2 (ebook)

Excerpt from FOUR PLAYS BY ARISTOPHANES: THE BIRDS, THE CLOUDS, THE FROGS, LYSISTRATA by Aristophanes, translated by William Arrowsmith, translation copyright © 1962 by William Arrowsmith. Used by permission of New American Library, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

Excerpts from AELIAN: CHARACTERISTICS OF ANIMALS, VOL. I, translated by A. F. Scholfield, Loeb Classical Library Volume 446, Cambridge, Mass., appear courtesy of Harvard University Press, copyright © 1958 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Loeb Classical Library® is a registered trademark of the President and Fellows of Harvard College.