Everyone always said that Abu Laith looked like a lion, and it was true. He was 5ft 6in with a rock-hard keg of a belly and an opaque halo of orange hair. His nose looked as if it had been hewn from a boulder and sprinkled with freckles. He spoke in a roar.

Since he could remember, Abu Laith had loved animals, and devoted himself to them at the near-absolute expense of humans. He had raised dogs, pigeons, rabbits, cats and beetles, and held them in his hands when they died.

He had one ultimate, lifelong aim: to live on a farm with large predators roaming free around him. That was why everyone called him Abu Laith, which — loosely translated — meant Father of