Historical fiction and preposterous legal arguments intertwine in Stephen Spotte’s electric new novel Animal Wrongs, set in a medieval French courtroom where animals are put on trial for “crimes” against mankind. Sixteenth-century lawyers fill the air with bluster, heckled and cheered by spectators as they defend or prosecute accused animals facing penalties of being hanged or burned alive at the stake. Spotte deftly unveils a story of opposing attorneys facing off against each other in ever-more opaque, convoluted, and dilatory trials. By the end of this novel, Spotte uses his considerable, critically-acclaimed storytelling skills to explore still-relevent theories on legal precedent, the church vs. the state, mankind’s place in nature, and animal rights.
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