After Pilgermann, a German Jew in the year 1096, ravishes the tax collector’s wife, an angry Christian mob retaliates by brutally castrating him. Bleeding and left for dead, Pilgermann experiences a vision of Jesus Christ and resolves to set out on a journey to the Holy Land. Along the way, he will be joined by a motley group of companions: the headless corpse of the tax collector, a lascivious talking pig, a dead bear, and Death himself. In the story of Pilgermann’s quest, by turns funny and nightmarish, Russell Hoban is at his most original and most imaginative. ‘Superb … Pilgermann is history, metaphysics, a tangle of mysteries, profound and simple.’ - Guardian

‘Not an easy read, only a fascinating and rewarding one.’ - Time

‘A Mad Max of a metaphysical story … intriguing … mysterious.’ - Los Angeles Herald Examiner

‘Pilgermann wants to jump off the page to lay hands on your shirtfront.’ - Washington Post