In this extraordinary and sometimes bizarre tale, Orson Furbear, who has suffered the devastating loss of his family, loses most of his memory and mind. A she-bear and her cubs give him new meaning and purpose for a while until his life is shattered by a fight with a male bear which leaves him maimed and dying. His human friends come to his aid and the unrequited love of Beatrice and the kindness of her husband help him survive. But, it is this very brush with death and his unorthodox re-birth that lead inexorably to the strange and sometimes shocking dénouement of this story of loss, restoration and redemption.
Written in the sumptuous and sensuous prose of a poet, wordsmith CR Moodie has created a love story with a difference. A wife and twin daughters lost in a terrible fire, a woman who is another man's wife, and, a she-bear with her cubs, all these make Orson what he is – a fabulous (in the original sense of the word) man who has straddled the world of man and beast and reconciled them. Orson Furbear is a plea for the conservation of bears and all of creation, a poignant cry for those who have no voice of their own.