Catalog

Record Details

Catalog Search

Search Results filters

Filtered by:


The elephant of Belfast : a novel  Cover Image Book Book

The elephant of Belfast : a novel

Walsh, S. Kirk (author.).

Summary: "The Elephant of Belfast chronicles a seven-month period of time when the Germans unexpectedly bombed Belfast, Northern Ireland, also known as the Belfast Blitz. Through the lens of the Bellevue Zoo and one of its zookeepers, twenty-year-old Hettie Quin, the novel animates how the war irrevocably impacted-and shaped the lives of Belfast's citizens in broad and intimate ways. In October 1940, Hettie meets Violet, a three-year-old Asian elephant arriving at the Belfast docks from Ceylon. Soon, she becomes Violet's dedicated zookeeper at the Bellevue Zoo. At the same time, Hettie continues to experience the grief related to the recent loss of her beloved older sister, Anna, and the abandonment of her father, Thomas, who left her mother, Rose. On April 15th , 1941, Belfast is attacked for five hours, with 674 bombs falling, and almost a thousand civilians being killed. During the bombings and its aftermath, Hettie does all that she can to save her elephant, and survive the destruction and escalating sectarian unrest of the city. Even though Hettie is still only twenty years old by the novel's end, she's aged at least a decade, her life and perspective transforming in tragic and unexpected ways. Taken altogether, The Elephant of Belfast reflects a complicated portrait of loss, grief, love, and resilience, and how the zoo and the city of Belfast suffered during these catastrophic attacks. At the narrative's heart is a changing relationship between a young woman and an elephant: At first, it seems that Hettie saves Violet, but in the end, Violet saves her"--

Item details

  • ISBN: 9781640094000
  • ISBN: 1640094008
  • Physical Description: print
    324 pages ; 24 cm
  • Edition: First hardcover edition.
  • Publisher: Berkeley, California : Counterpoint, 2021.
  • Badges:
    • Top Circs: 1 / 5.0
Subject: Belfast (Northern Ireland) History Bombardment, 1941 Fiction
Zoo keepers Fiction
Elephants Fiction
Human-animal relationships Fiction
FICTION / Historical / World War II
FICTION / Animals
FICTION / Women
Genre: Historical fiction.
Historical fiction.

Currently available copies

  • 35 out of 35 copies are currently available at PINES. (Show)
  • 1 out of 1 copy are currently available at Flint River Regional Library System. (Show)
  • 0 out of 0 copies are currently available at Peachtree City Library.

Holds

  • 0 current holds on 35 total copies.
Sort by distance from:
Show Only Available Copies
Library System: Library Branch Name
Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status  


Additional Resources