Novel by
Barbara Gowdy, published in 1998 by
Harper Collins Canada. It is the story of a group of
elephants trying to
survive in
Africa; enduring a
drought, and trying to evade
poachers. Mud, the
main character is an elephant cow with
visionary powers, and with her
herd is trying to find the White Bone, which will lead them to the legendary Safe Place, where there is no
peril.
Gowdy spent a great deal of time researching for this book, and travelled to Kenya to observe elephants in their natural habitat. I found the book very original and moving. It is beautifully written and carries a strong message.
"If they live long enough they forget everything.
< >Most of them don't live that long. Nine out of ten are slaughtered in their prime, decades before their memories have started to drain. I speak of the majority, then, when I say it is true what you've heard: they never forget.
They themselves think this accounts for their size. Some go so far as to claim that under that thunderhead of flesh and those huge rolling bones they are memory. They contain memory, yes, but what may not be so well known is that they are doomed without it. When their memories begin to drain, their bodies go into decline, as if from a slow leakage of blood."
-Barbara Gowdy, The White Bone