Lázaro is a feral child, a foundling nurtured and raised by animals. There has never been a true-life case of a feral child successfully integrating back into human society. The limbs of such children 'rescued' from their bestial foster-parents are misshapen from crawling and running on all fours; they howl at the moon, devour raw meat and manage to learn only a few words and simple commands. Their value system is that of the animal that nurtured them--the law of the jungle.
But Lázaro's adoptive parents are the most intelligent and social creatures outside of the human species--a pod of freshwater dolphins inhabiting the Amazon River system in South America. And Lázaro must emerge from the jungle--to hunt his mother's killer, a 'civilized' person.
Lázaro the novel co-won the $50,000 Seal First Novel Award in 1983, and in 1986 was adapted for an MGM feature-length movie called Where The River Runs Black, starring Charles Durning and Peter Horton with the musical score by Oscar-winner James Horner.
