[1][2] It won the 2010 Prime Minister's Literary Award for fiction and was inspired by the story of feral child Ivan Mishukov.

[3][4] Romochka is a feral child, raised by dogs and found on the streets of Moscow in the summer of 1998.

This novel examines his life on the streets and the changes he undergoes as he transforms from "dog" to "boy".

Writing in The Guardian reviewer John Burnside called the book "a wonderful novel, a tour de force, even.

"[5] In Australian Book Review Judith Armstrong noted that "the whole novel is beautifully written".