The Mystery of the Thinking Rabbit

This collection of four short stories for children starts off with a thinking rabbit that mysteriously keeps escaping from its hutch, before it moves on to the author’s ode to all the animals she has ever loved (and her accidental killing of two fish), a strange tale narrated by a dog and, finally, a glimpse into the inner life of a chicken. In these delightful and absurd stories, which are bursting with quirkiness and amusing ideas, Clarice Lispector frequently addresses the reader directly.

And who better to illustrate these remarkable tales than Gerda Dendooven? Her utterly unique style complements Lispector’s like no other. In Dendooven’s work it’s not just the people whose faces are full of personality – she can seemingly effortlessly imbue a chicken or a rabbit with an inner world. The soft pink backdrops contrast with the bright yellow, red and blue in which the animals are depicted. Dendooven’s expressive style and sense of absurd humour are absolutely perfect here.