Taronga Zoo, as I’m sure most of my Australian readers are aware, is a very real place and not just a figment of my imagination. I have tampered with its geography as little as possible, and only then to make my story more feasible. Thus, I have suggested that all the Zoo buildings are contained by the outer fence, even though that is not strictly true. Also, I have described the Zoo as it was before its most recent alterations, largely because that was how I first came to know it. I hope I may be forgiven for such small departures from the literal truth. Here, as in previous books, my intention has been to capture the spirit of a particular setting, not simply to give a factual description of it. I think I need hardly add that the characters in my book are fictional, and any resemblance which may exist between them and the personnel at the Zoo is purely coincidental.

Lastly, some mention must be made of the poet and visionary, William Blake. Nowhere in the novel itself have I referred to him directly; but those who know his work will recognise that, in my descriptions of Raja and Ranee, I am as indebted to him as I am to the beautiful tigers that inhabit Taronga.

–Victor Kelleher, 1986