In the shelter offered by a big fir tree, a trembling puppy is sleeping with his muzzle under his tail. He is alone in the immense dark forest. His house is far away, his human is far away, but more than anything his mother’s warm fur is far away. Lost forever. Facing the terrible winter of the Far North is the challenge destiny gave to the little grey dog who, gambolling thoughtlessly after his mother and his person in the immense snowy fields, lost their traces. His only tools for surviving are his budding instincts and a tenacious nostalgia that little by little weakens and wavers. He must procure food, combat the freezing cold, resist the temptation of falling asleep and dying of exposure. He needs to find a safe refuge for the long black nights, interrupted by the lugubrious calls of owls and the cracking of icy branches. Day after day, the battle for life takes on different aspects. There’s a moose carcass that unexpectedly wards of starvation, a fox that fights with him over the carcass down to the last strip of meat, the crows that follow him menacingly. Day after day his paws become tougher, his yelps becomes barks, the memory of his species takes over, his body learns to read the forest. Then, at a certain point, a hunter hidden among the trees begins to observe him. His fascination for this completely feral animal leads him to try and approach him, try to win his trust. And old sensations and odours reawaken in the dog things that belong to another life, a life where he knew friendship with a man. Translated for the first time in Italy, this classic, an enduring international bestseller by one of the most important Swedish writers, is a perfect little Bildungsroman that is both poetic and raw. A love song for the wild that withstands the injuries of careless humanity.