“The Elephant of Belfast knocked me flat and picked me up, not just once but many times over the course of
S. Kirk Walsh’s deeply satisfying telling. There’s so much life in these pages, life as well as death—we’re in wartime Belfast, dear reader, and the Luftwaffe is dropping bombs—that I couldn’t help but feel changed by the end, experienced. Only the best novels do that, and the very fine Elephant of Belfast belongs in that rank.”
Belfast, Northern Ireland, October 1940. Twenty-year-old zookeeper Hettie Quin arrives at the city docks in time to meet her soon-to-be charge: an orphaned three-year-old Indian elephant named Violet. As Violet adjusts to her new solitary life in captivity and Hettie mourns the recent loss of her sister and the abandonment of her father, new storm clouds gather. A world war rages, threatening a city already at odds with the escalating tensions between the British Loyalists and those fighting for a free and unified Ireland.
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 transforming in tragic and unexpected ways. Taken altogether, The Elephant of Belfast reflects a complicated portrait of loss, grief, love, and resilience.
“This remarkable novel about the unexpected relationship between a woman and an elephant was inspired by true events that took place during the so-called Belfast Blitz in the 1940s, when Hitler attacked the capital of Northern Ireland. A vivid tale of resilience and loss, The Elephant of Belfast is ultimately about the transformative power of love and the surprising ability we humans have to find joy in the midst of heartache.”
“Walsh delivers a turbulent portrait of life in a divided city . . . A unique perspective of a country at war and the lengths people will go for those they love.”
“The Elephant of Belfast is a lovely book about a fascinating piece of history, and its two heroines—animal and human—are enthralling and beautifully drawn. S. Kirk Walsh writes wonderfully about heartbreak both personal and historic.”
The Elephant of Belfast was published by Counterpoint Press in the U.S. In the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, and Ireland, the novel will be published as The Zookeeper of Belfast by Hodder/Hachette in April and December 2021.
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