Big Pig, Little Pig

When Jacqueline and her husband move to south-west France, they embrace rural village life and buy two pigs to rear for slaughter. But as they get to know the animals better, can they bear to actually do it? This is a memoir about that fateful decision, but it's also about the ethics of meat eating in the modern age, and whether we should know and respect the animals we eat. Threaded throughout are the stories of Toby the Sapient Pig, who was something of a celebrity in late 18th-century England, and an elegy to rural France whose life and traditions are dying out. At its heart, this book is a love story, exploring the increasing attachment of the author for her particular pigs, and celebrating the intimacy of humans and pigs over the centuries.