The Elephant Keeper
Christopher Nicholson
|
Omniscore:
|
| Classification |
Fiction |
| Genre |
General Fiction |
| Format |
Hardback |
| Pages |
288 |
| RRP |
£14.99 |
| Date of Publication |
January 2009 |
| ISBN |
978-0007278824 |
| Publisher |
Fourth Estate |
| |
I asked the sailor what an Elephant looked like; he replied that it was like nothing on earth. In the middle of the 18th century, a ship docks at Bristol with an extraordinary cargo: two young elephants, Timothy and Jenny. Bought by a wealthy landowner, they are taken to his estate in the English countryside. A stable boy, Tom Page, is given the task of caring for them. The Elephant Keeper is Tom's account of his life with the elephants. As the years pass, and as they journey across England, his relationship with the female elephant deepens in a startling manner. Along the way they meet incredulity, distrust and tragedy, and it is only their understanding of each other that keeps them together.
Reviews
The Daily Mail
Carla McKay
"[A] captivatingly original novel... This is a wonderful feat of story-telling, remarkable for its ability to wrench your heart without resorting to easy sentimentality."
23/01/2009
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The Observer
Emma Donoghue
"Sometimes it seems less a novel than a rich meditation on the Enlightenment: its rationality and superstition, silly games and serious concerns. Like the elephant at its centre, Nicholson's book is gentle, profound and sweet-natured. If the first half is rather too discursive - including more measurements of parts of elephants than most readers will care to absorb - then by the second half, we find ourselves fascinated by a marriage like no other."
22/03/2009
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The Independent
Sarah Bakewell
"Jenny is a magnificent character, more vivid than the humans – even Tom, who never entirely rises from the page, despite his full repertoire of vulnerabilities, failings and secret fantasies... She gives the book its weight, in every sense. Any stilted moments with the human characters are made up for by her, by other animals playing minor roles, and by the sheer richness of the story's texture."
23/01/2009
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The Independent on Sunday
Rachel Hore
"[A] charming first novel... Throughout, Nicholson, with a light hand, explores questions of how and why we make choices, and contrasts our attitudes to life with that of animals... Tom interprets people's attitudes to animals – tender or brutal, timidly respectful or contemptuous – as an indication of their moral worth. While doing this, Nicholson never betrays the tenor of the times."
01/02/2009
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The Financial Times
Melissa McClements
"...When Timothy is sold off to a distant aristocrat, Tom and Jenny are united in grief. She begins to have her own voice in the narrative; he has some unhealthy dreams about his gargantuan charge. Nicholson tries to use their mutual understanding to raise questions about the difference between man and beast (particularly pertinent during the Enlightenment) – but this initially beguiling novel strays way off course."
19/01/2009
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