Hunting Elephants

Description

Harry reads books, he asks questions; he's a naturally curious young man. So when he and his parents head out to the country for great uncle Frank's fourth wedding, he prepares himself. He learns what he can before they leave. After all, he doesn't want to look stupid when Frank's time in the Vietnam War comes up in conversation. If it comes up. But perhaps Harry has more to worry about than an old man's war stories. Is there a crazed gunman in the bush? And what's being kept hidden in the old caravan behind Frank's house? Besides, Harry has scars and memories and guilt of his own to deal with, which won't be easy while ever he's surrounded by truths that sound like lies, and lies that might just be true.

James Roy was born in western New South Wales in 1968 and spent much of his childhood in Papua New Guinea and Fiji, adventuring by day and reading books at night. Then one day, tired of reading books by dead people, he decided to start writing his own. Since his first novel was released in 1996, James has written a number of critically acclaimed works of fiction and non-fiction for young people, including the CBCA Honour Books CAPTAIN MACK and BILLY MACK'S WAR, and six CBCA Notable Books. In 2008, TOWN also won the Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, following which he wrote HUNTING ELEPHANTS, his first novel for Woolshed Press. James lives with his family in the Blue Mountains. He enjoys trying to make music and art, doesn't like olives very much, and hasn't entirely abandoned his dream of sailing around the world.