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But it isn't.

There is Mijbil, an otter who travelled with Maxwell -- and gave Maxwell's name to a new species -- from the Tigris marshes to his London flat.

It may sound extravagant to say that there has never been a more engaging animal in all literature.

This is not only a compliment to Mijbil, of whom there are a fine series of photographs and drawings in the book, but to the author who has catalogued the saga of a frightened otter cub's journey by plane from Iraq to London, then by train ( where he lay curled in the wash basin playing with the water tap ) to Camusfearna, with affectionate detail.