The Orphan

Name: The Orphan
Author: Robert Stallman
ISBN: 9781504076890

Robert Stallman

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The Orphan

Robert Stallman

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The Orphan was a finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Novel. A shapeshifting beast struggles to find its place among humanity in this classic science fiction adventure. No one, not even the beast itself, knows where it came from or what it is. Witnesses' descriptions vary. A big dog, a wolf, a lynx. A cross between a gorilla and a bear. A fiend out of hell . . . Roving the American Midwest in the midst of the Great Depression, it hunts in the dark, finding prey where it can. Then, one night it is trapped in a hayloft by a farmer with a shotgun. Sensing the man's fear, the beast transforms . . . into a five-year-old boy named Robert Lee Burney. The boy finds happiness living with the farmer and his wife, and enjoys learning about their ways. At night, he allows the beast to get out to hunt and play, but a terrifying attack on the farm changes everything in a moment . . . On the run, the beast strives to understand the confusing and dangerous world in which it now finds itself. It must also search for a new home and figure out what—or who—it is.

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