The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith is a dense, funny, moving novel set in the nations of Voorstand and Efica. Severely afflicted, doomed never to be taller than three foot six, Tristan Smith faces death and danger from the first moment of his energetic and ambitious life. This is an unprecedented work of the imagination, a modern work as packed with incident and character as a Victorian novel, an allegory that is most remarkable for the thread of love and loyalty that runs through its richly imagined tapestry.