Whistling For The Elephants

Description

There are two basic types of animal in Nature's Kingdom. The first, like lions and turtles, produce many offspring and simply hope that some will survive. The second, like elephants and people, produce one or two at long intervals and make great efforts to rear them. My mother belonged in a class of her own. She produced two at short intervals and made no effort to rear them whatsoever. Thus Dorothy, aged ten, finds herself making her own way in Sassaspaneck, New York in 1968. Her English father, who never talks above a whisper due to a youthful injury with a cricket ball, has tucked her and her mother away where the potential for embarrassment can be limited. All the other children in town have gone to camp, so Dorothy must provide her own entertainment. She comes across a small, faded zoo on the outskirts of town, and as she begins to get to know the eccentric group of women who live there she begins to discover a world way beyond the one she has glimpsed so far.

Following a first-class degree from Cambridge, Sandi Toksvig went into the theatre as a writer and performer and was a founder member of the Comedy Store Players. Well known for her television and radio work as a presenter, writer and actor, she has written six books for children.

'A wild and wonderful humour and dispensation of animal facts infom the novel, that stands head and shoulders above the ubiquitous comedian-writes-a-book turn' Glasgow Herald 'A poignant debut, with the humour you might expect from an accomplished comedienne' The Times 'Thoughtful, satisfying and well-structured, as well as humorous' Daily Mail