The novel written by Patxi Zubizarreta is a reflection on human nature and animal nature.
The story takes the reader from the Alps to the Pyrenees, through several stories, with literary ingredients of intrigue, adventure and constant metaphors.
The text arose from a story that shocked the writer: a pig managed to enter a farmer's house in France, overturned the cradle and devoured the baby sleeping in it. The pig was put on trial, given the death penalty, and the owners were forced to watch the execution. Not only the owners; all the farmers in the area had to go to the execution accompanied by their pigs. They hanged the pig dressed as a person, tore it to pieces and burned it. The novel could be a parallel between this story and the story of humanity.
But the story of the novel begins today, with two scientists (glaciologists). One tells the other that he has found some mummified bodies in the Tsanfleuron glacier (Switzerland) and several objects next to them. The story jumps to the 19th century and to another place, Zuberoa.
The novel moves on these two planes and trying to find the answers about these bodies and objects will be the main thread of the novel.
The illustrator has entered into the essence of the text and has made a mixture of images in each of the scenes with what the text has suggested. The profile of a pig's face is the thread that binds all the illustrations together, as is the title of the book.
It is a book suitable for both young and old. In addition to offering a remarkable literary level, the text allows to address topics that may be of great interest to young people over 16 years of age: glacier research, preservation of corpses, the work of Junes Cazenave-Harigile, the Nenana Ice Classic in Canada...