The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Anthony, Jessica. Enter the Aardvark. Little, Brown and Company. 2020.

The book follows a pair of separate but interrelated narrative lines. The first focuses on the experiences of a contemporary American politician, youthful Republican Alexander Paine Wilson. The second focuses on the experiences of a near-middle-aged British taxidermist, the introverted Titus Downing. The experiences of both men are defined primarily by same-sex attractions which both men feel, for various reasons and with varying degrees of desperation, they must keep secret.

Before the novel begins, there is a prologue, in which scientist Sir Richard Ostet, working in Africa, struggles to find the right name for a new species of animal he has discovered. With the help of an assistant, he eventually decides on “aardvark.”

The novel proper begins with a description of the life and circumstances of Alexander Paine Wilson, a young and highly ambitious American politician. When he receives the unexpected and unexplained gift of a stuffed aardvark, he is at first perplexed – but then he realizes it had initially belonged to a man named Greg Tampico, with whom he had been having a sexual relationship. Wilson had abandoned that relationship abruptly when he learned that Tampico was interested in it becoming more than just sexual.

Meanwhile, the narrative shifts focus back to Ostet who, in the aftermath of his naming of the aardvark, gives in to despair and consumes a handful of poisonous pills.

Just as Wilson starts to realize the implications of Tampico’s gift, the narration shifts focus again. This time, its attention turns to Titus Downing, a friend and confidante of Ostet’s who receives the carcass of the aardvark and prepares to preserve both its life and what he believes to be its spirit through the art of taxidermy.

From this point on, the narrative shifts focus every few pages, moving back and forth between Wilson’s struggles to dispose of the aardvark and preserve his political career, and Downing’s work to prepare, stuff, and then exhibit the aardvark. Eventually, the narrative reveals that both men are involved, for lack of a better term, with the same aardvark.

For his part, Wilson finds himself in increasing trouble with the law even as he attempts to counter the damage to his career and personal life. Those attempts include making plans to marry the daughter of a powerful businessman. Eventually, all his efforts to preserve his reputation fall apart when both his would-be fiancé and the press learn about his relationship with Tampico.

For his part, Downing succeeds in making a very lifelike presentation of the aardvark, integrating the actual eyes of Richard Ostet (which he had obtained from Ostet’s widow) into his work.

As the twin narratives continue, the lives of both men disintegrate when Wilson’s history of financial misbehavior surfaces alongside his other wrongdoings, and when Downing’s aardvark sells for much less than he had anticipated. This failure, along with the re-disappearance of Ostet (who had mysteriously returned to his life) apparently leads Downing to kill himself (the narrative leaves unresolved the question of whether he actually does die by his own hand).

An epilogue shows Wilson living a new life in a menial apartment and menial job and starting to develop a degree of conscience and compassion, but eventually giving in to his fundamental desire for power, control, and possessions.