In a virus-fearing world, skin hunger can drive you crazy — and human petting zoos can return you to yourself.

Ten years after the deadly virus nicknamed Henny Penny, the world has largely recovered — there’s at least an interim government and law and order for its greatly reduced population. But even though there’s been a vaccine for years, the law still requires people to wear protective masks and gloves at all times in public. Soft fabrics are dangerous. And people who haven’t been touched in years are going crazy from skin hunger. Lily has lived in isolation for ten years, afraid to rejoin the world. But a return-to-work order, and an invitation to go to a petting zoo, the most illegal game in town, start to bring her back to life.

A post-apocalyptic sex adventure, a woman’s journey of self-discovery, The Petting Zoos is an erotic love story for an age of extreme caution, in which the value of safety itself is questioned.