{"product_id":"2940169094930","title":"Caesar: The Life Story of a Panda Leopard","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"O'Brian was only 15 when [\u003ci\u003eCaesar\u003c\/i\u003e] was published, but he already possessed an instinct for deft plotting and uncomplicated narrative.\"-\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA stark tale encompassing the cruelty and beauty of the natural world, and a clear demonstration of the storytelling gift that would later flower in the Aubrey\/Maturin series. When he was fourteen years old and beset by chronic ill health, Patrick O'Brian began creating his first fictional character. \"I did it in my bedroom, and a little when I should have been doing my homework,\" he confessed in a note on the original dust-jacket.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eCaesar\u003c\/i\u003e tells the picaresque, enchanting, and quite bloodthirsty story of a creature whose father is a giant panda and whose mother is a snow leopard. Through the eyes and voice of this fabulous creature, we learn of his life as a cub, his first hunting exploits, his first encounters with man, his capture and taming.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eCaesar\u003c\/i\u003e was published in 1930, three months after O'Brian's fifteenth birthday, but the dry wit and unsentimental precision O'Brian readers savor in the Aubrey\/Maturin series is already in evidence. The book combines Stephen Maturin's fascination and encyclopedic knowledge of natural history with the narrative charm of Rudyard Kipling's \u003ci\u003eThe Jungle Book\u003c\/i\u003e. It was published in England and the United States, and in translation in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Japan.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47097724961008,"sku":"2940169094930","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940169094930_p0.jpg?v=1763671839","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940169094930","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}