Description
⭐️ Named a 2025 Kansas Notable Book ⭐️
Winner of the Midwest Book Award for Cover Design
Before The Porcelain Menagerie, Jillian Forsberg introduced readers to the dazzling and dangerous world of 18th-century Europe in The Rhino Keeper-a sweeping tale of wonder, obsession, and the fragile line between curiosity and control.
Based on the true story of a Dutch sea captain who toured the continent with an Indian rhinoceros named Clara, The Rhino Keeper brings to life an age when science, art, and spectacle collided in breathtaking-and sometimes perilous-ways.
2022 – College student Andrea Clarkson uncovers a centuries-old mystery in Holland: strange documents, a carved rhinoceros on an ancient grave, and a secret buried deep beneath the earth. What she finds will challenge her understanding of history-and of herself.
1740 – Ship captain Douwemout van der Meer possesses what no European has seen in generations: a living rhinoceros. Together, he and Clara travel across Europe, thrilling peasants and queens alike. But when devotion turns to obsession, and admiration to fear, Douwe must face the limits of his own wonder.
Among those enchanted by Clara is a young artist named Johann Joachim Kändler, whose porcelain creations capture the creature’s grace-and whose ambition will one day take center stage in Forsberg’s companion novel, The Porcelain Menagerie.
Narrated by Caroline Hewitt, The Rhino Keeper evokes the marvel of discovery and the danger of desire. Continue the journey with The Porcelain Menagerie, also from History Through Fiction-where the artist who sculpted Clara’s likeness becomes the master of a court built on fragile beauty.
Binding Type: Hardcover
Author: Jillian Forsberg
Published: 10/22/2024
Publisher: History Through Fiction LLC
ISBN: 9781963452044
Pages: 270
Weight: 1.22lbs
Size: 0.75″ H x 9.00″ L x 6.00″ W
Award: 2025 Independent Publisher Book Awards Silver Medal Winner – Cover Design-Fiction
About the Author
Forsberg, Jillian: – Jillian Forsberg is a historian and author with a master’s degree in public history from Wichita State University. Her research on little-known historical events led her to discover the true story behind her first novel, The Rhino Keeper. In addition to being the former editor for Wichita State’s The Fairmont Folio, Jillian is an essayist whose articles have been published in academic journals. With a passion for 18th-century history, Jillian can also be found gardening, exploring antique malls, or reading every label at a museum. Vintage dresses are Jillian’s clothing of choice, except when she’s at the zoo. She lives in Wichita, Kansas, with her husband, child, and pets.
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