The Elephant of Belfast

 

Shirley J.               Adult Non-Fiction                 Zoos, Elephants, Lions, Tigers, Bears, etc., WWII, IRA

The Elephant of Belfast by S. Kirk Walsh   352 pages

Belfast, Northern Ireland, during WWII, October of 1940, Hettie Quinn is now living her dream of being a female zookeeper in charge of Violet the Elephant.   She put in plenty of time cleaning cages and shoveling various manure to earn the attention of her boss and finally to talk him in to giving her a chance as a zookeeper and to work one on one with the animal she adores particularly, Violet the elephant.  Add to the mix that Hitler has decided to bomb Belfast which brings a mixed bag of happy and sad to Hettie and her mother.   Happy because Hettie has her dream come true working with Violet, sad because she and her mother have to endure bombings, the fear of unexploded bombs, deprivation due to rationing of material goods and food due to the war now brought to their doorstep, along with the constant fear of death or hearing of someone they know who has died.   Hettie adores her work at the Zoo and would spend every waking hour there if she could.   As if all that isn't enough, Hettie who is 19,  is dealing with her mother who is chronically depressed after her older daughter's death and her husband leaving her and Lettie,  the IRA in their backyard colluding with the Germans against Britain in the war cause the IRA hates English rule and wants a free independent Ireland and thinks siding with Germany will help their cause, Hettie is grieving her sister while keeping in contact with her brother-in-law and their baby who are now living with his Mom.  Hettie realizes she has a huge crush on her brother-in-law which gets weird and brings a whole host of issues during which the local constabulary decides to come to the Zoo and kill all of the wild animals they feel could cause problems if the zoo is bombed and they escape.   The tragedies Hettie and Violet endure strengthen their bond and like Blanche DuBois in a Streetcar named Desire, Hettie finds herself depending on the kindness of strangers during this awful time in history.    Such a good book made better knowing it actually happened.    I recommend this book to mature high schoolers on up due to the brief sexual content.