Billy and Hans, My Squirrel Friends: A True History

In 1872, the American journalist, diplomat, and adventurer William James Stillman did something no serious Victorian gentleman was expected to do: he wrote a book entirely devoted to two red squirrels named Billy and Hans, whom he had kept as pets in Switzerland. What emerges is neither a children's tale nor mere natural history, but something more surprising: a meditation on cross-species intimacy, animal consciousness, and the ethical weight of keeping another creature dependent on one's care. Stillman observes his squirrels with the same intensity he brought to covering wars and photographing the ruins of ancient Greece. He records their moods, their jealousies, their surprising depths of feeling, and he does not flinch from asking what he owes them in return. The result is a small, strange, deeply felt book that anticipates modern questions about animal welfare and the boundaries of companionship. It endures because Stillman refuses to be sentimental while being unmistakably tender, because he treats his squirrels as individuals with interior lives rather than curiosities. Anyone who has loved an animal they could not fully understand will find something recognizable here.