Larger Than Life is a short story prequel to Leaving Time, the twenty-first full length novel by popular American author, Jodi Picoult. It introduces naturalist, Alice Metcalf, a key character in Leaving Time and details some of her history. In Botswana, Alice comes across an elephant calf that has survived the massacre of her herd by poachers. What she does next could jeopardise her whole career. Picoult has obviously done a lot of research into her subject: even this short taster gives the reader interesting facts about elephant herds, in particular the importance of the matriarch, and some of the effects of poaching. In true Picoult fashion, this story is informative and thought-provoking as well as being at times funny and very moving. The download also includes the first chapter of Leaving Time. Readers will eagerly devour this free offering in anticipation of the publication of Picoult’s upcoming novel.