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The elephant of Belfast : a novel

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Book

First hardcover edition.

"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"--

Available copies

  • 15 of 16 copies available at Westchester Library System.

Current holds

0 current holds with 16 total copies.

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Book 1 CD Audiobook 1 Large Print Book 1 English 3 All formats and editions 3
Location Call Number /
Shelving Location
Barcode Status /
Due Date
Bedford Hills Free Library WALSH (Text)
Fiction
31003151574313
Available
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Chappaqua Library FICTION WALSH (Text)
Fiction
31005500430956
Available
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Croton Free Library FICTION/WALSH (Text)
Fiction
31006151802105
Available
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Greenburgh Public Library WALSH (Text)
Fiction
31009154808020
Available
-
John C. Hart Memorial Library WALSH (Text)
Fiction
31030155110315
Available
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Larchmont Public Library WALSH (Text)
Fiction
31014152964809
Available
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Mount Pleasant Public Library FIC WALSH (Text)
Fiction
31024153752699
Available
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New Rochelle Public Library WALSH (Text)
Fiction
31019156605191
Available
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Ossining Public Library FICTION (Text)
Fiction
31021101904893
Available
-
Rye Free Reading Room FICTION WALSH (Text)
Fiction
31028153336023
Available
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