The Year of the Hare Get's Two Ears Up From Jackie

Suddenly realizing what's important in life (with the help of a bunny), a man quits his job and heads to the countryside in this internationally bestselling comic novel.

"Which of us has not had that wonderfully seditious idea: to play hooky for a while from life as we know it?" With these words from his foreword, Pico Iyer puts his finger on the exhilaratingly anarchic appeal of The Year of the Hare.

While out on assignment, a journalist hits a hare with his car. This small incident becomes life-changing: he decides to quit his job, leave his wife, sell his possessions, and spend a year wandering the wilds of Finland-with the bunny as his boon companion.

Jackie says:

"This book was originally published in 1975 in Finland. And translated into 25 different
languages. At last, it's about to be in our hands--and what an amazing delight this story is! Vatanen is a journalist, on the road with a photographer covering a story, when their car accidentally hits a hare. Vatanen makes the driver stop and searches for the wounded animal. After quite a long while, he finds him and brings him back to the car as the creature has a broken leg and Vatanen wants to take it to a vet. The photographer refuses to have "that wild animal" in the car, and after an argument, drives off without the journalist. This is the beginning, this simple decision to walk into the woods with the injured animal, that leads to a year of unlikely but amusing adventures that has Vatanen, the now wanderer, being a Samaritan to many, many interesting characters in many, many odd situations--with his faithful sidekick, the hare, of course.

This is a book about running away from the world in order to embrace it more fully and is a treasure of storytelling brilliance. It's odd, and beautiful, and should not be missed."