The sooterkin

the long version

"On a squally afternoon in the winter of 1821, Sarah Dyer gives birth to the strangest child ever seen in Tasmania, a thing more seal than human. As news of the creature spreads through the colony, incredulous doctors come to peer under Sarah's skirts. The Reverend Mr Kidney suspects a virgin birth. Mr Sculley, anatomist and man of science, hails it as the antipodean answer to the elusive Dutch sooterkin.". "The pup is a joy to its parents and a welcome companion to their nine-year-old son Ned, who discovers surprising - and profitable - talents in his whiskery sibling. But when a well-dressed stranger arrives, bearing a modest proposal for the infant's future, no one foresees the trouble that lies ahead."--BOOK JACKET.