A Buffalo in the House
The True Story of a Man, an Animal, and the American West
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
From a #1 New York Times–bestselling author, “a heartwarming tale of bonding between people and animals” (Booklist).
A sprawling suburban house in Santa Fe is not the kind of home where a buffalo normally roams, but Veryl Goodnight and Roger Brooks are not your ordinary animal lovers. Over a hundred years after Veryl’s ancestors, Charles and Mary Ann Goodnight, hand-raised two baby buffalo to help save the species from extinction, the sculptor and her husband adopt an orphaned buffalo calf of their own. Against a backdrop of the American West, A Buffalo in the House tells the story of a household situation beyond any sitcom writer’s wildest dreams.
Charlie has no idea he’s a buffalo and Roger has no idea just how strong the bond between man and buffalo can be. In the historical shadow of the near-extermination of a majestic and misunderstood animal, Roger sets out to save just one buffalo—in a true story featuring “one of the most memorable characters in recent nature writing” (Publishers Weekly).
“More than a touching man-beast buddy tale . . . lovingly chronicles the history of an embattled species and its importance in the American West.” —Entertainment Weekly
“Moving proof of the restorative powers of man’s relationship with nature.” —People
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rosen combines his skills as a mystery novelist (Strike Three You're Dead) and cultural critic (Psychobabble) to tell the powerful story of Charlie, a week-old orphaned buffalo who in 2000 was given a temporary home in Santa Fe with animal lovers Roger Brooks and Veryl Goodnight and who then stays for three memorable and sometimes heartbreaking years. As the story unfolds, Rose deftly explores a relationship between Charlie and Brooks that brought out previously unexplored depths of tenderness in the latter, and a devotion surprising for a wild animal: "While Roger read the paper on a lawn chair Charlie would sniff him, or he'd curl up with him for an afternoon siesta." Rosen also uses the couple's own fascinating backgrounds especially that of Goodnight, a distant relative of Charles and Mary Goodnight, who had helped save the buffalo from extinction in the 1870s to explore past and present political and wildlife management issues. But the heart of the book is the bond forged over three years between Brooks and his beloved Charlie, whose special combination of "sheer size and gentle disposition," as well as his all-too-short life, make him one of the most memorable characters in recent nature writing. B&w illus.
