The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear

Original title: Die 13½ Leben des Käpt'n Blaubär (1998). Translated into English in 2000.

A unique novel set in a magnificently rendered imaginary country. Bluebear is a bear with blue fur and 27 lives, 13 1/2 of which he uses up by the end of the book, in a world as far removed from our own as can possibly be imagined – mysterious Zamonia. Captain Bluebear is a German cartoon hero, part sci-fi, part fairy-tale.