Toon Tellegen is one of the Netherlands' best-loved authors. A retired doctor, he initially found fame as a children's author, before beginning his hugely popular series of philosophical animal fables for adults, which examine deep questions about life and happiness through encounters between different animals. The series has sold more than a million copies in the Netherlands alone, and the books have also become international bestsellers, translated into 25 languages across the world.David Colmer has won many prizes for his translations, including the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize (precursor to the International Booker Prize), both with novelist Gerbrand Bakker. He also translated Willem Frederik Hermans' An Untouched House and A Guardian Angel Recalls for Pushkin Press.Annemarie van Haeringen is an internationally renowned illustrator of picture books who lives in Amsterdam. Her books have been translated into many languages and won numerous awards.

The spiky little mammals can never get close to each other, but this novel urges us to put away our prickles