Beatrice and Virgil

Yann Martel

Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel (Paperback ISBN 9781847677679) book cover

Available as Paperback

The dazzling follow-up to the million-copy bestselling LIFE OF PI

This is the story of a donkey named Beatrice and a monkey named Virgil.

It is also the story of an extraordinary journey undertaken by a man named Henry.

It begins with a mysterious parcel, and it ends in a place that will make you think again about one of the most significant events of the twentieth century.

Once you have finished reading it, it is impossible to forget.


“A provocative and fiercely brave novel. It grips the reader with teeth as sharp as a Bengal tiger’s”
John Boyne
author Of The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas

See more reviews

“A sophisticated fable…Beatrice and Virgil is so imbued with passionate moral and intellectual ardor that even the cynical should find it engaging.”
wall Street Journal

“It’s a masterpiece, no question.”
A N Wilson
reader’s Digest

“An explosion of ideas that keep the pages turning…a wild, provocative novel”
independent On Sunday

“Audaciously original, never less than engrossing, often disturbing, and in its denouement truly horrifying.”
Mick Brown
the Telegraph Magazine


Yann Martel

Yann Martel is the author of a short story collection, The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios, and of four novels, Self, Beatrice & Virgil, Life of Pi (for which he was awarded the 2002 Man Booker Prize), and his latest, The High Mountains of Portugal. Life of Pi was adapted for the silver screen by Ang Lee, garnering four Oscars. Martel also ran a guerilla book club with Stephen Harper, sending the former prime minister of Canada a book every two weeks for four years. The letters that accompanied the books were published as 101 Letters to a Prime Minister. Martel lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, with the writer Alice Kuipers, and their four children.