Other ducks are braver, but it is Marcel who finally takes action, often with unanticipated and tragic consequences, when civil unrest on the Bloedel reserve threatens his family and clan. He struggles on against his guilt over the death of loved ones, survives otters, hunters, cults, toxic waste, and more until finding his destiny in a near-death experience. As in Watership Down we come to care deeply about an alternate animal world at once familiar and foreign, and we call to mind the spiritual insights of Jonathon Livingston Seagull and The Alchemist. At its heart, the novel is about a journey to find a holy center, a place from which to navigate the world with confidence. Some will enjoy references to Proust's In Search of Lost Time and Attar's The Conference of the Birds. Others will fall in love with Marcel and the humor, beauty, and wisdom of the story. This is a poetic, creative fable, reminding us that we, too, can find meaning and hope in a difficult and dangerous world.