An Elephant in the Garden

Dresden, 1945. Elizabeth and Karli’s mother works at the zoo, where her favourite animal is a young elephant named Marlene. Then the zoo director tells her that the dangerous animals ? including the elephants ? must be shot before the town is bombed. Unable to give Marlene up, their mother moves her into the back garden to save her ? and then the bombs start to fall.

Their home destroyed, the whole family must flee the bombed-out city and through the perilous, snow-covered landscape, all the while avoiding the Russian troops who are drawing ever closer. It would be hard enough to do, without an elephant in tow ?

A thrilling and moving novel about an extraordinary animal caught up in a very human war, for anyone who loved The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips or The Butterfly Lion ?

Find more books by Michael Morpurgo?here.