France, 1790s. In the chaos of the Revolution, a man wanders the streets with a hunger that defies science. Tarrare could eat a basket of apples in a single sitting, swallow corks, stones, and live animals. He was a medical anomaly, a spy for the French army (smuggling documents in his stomach), and a tragic figure cursed with a bottomless void inside him.

This book investigates the grotesque and sad life of the greatest glutton in history. It separates the folklore from the medical reports of the time, exploring the boundaries of human physiology. Was it a damaged hypothalamus? A parasite? Or something worse? It is a story of a man who was always full, yet died of starvation.