The Elephant Keeper

Very enjoyable but painful at times. A well-written and well composed story of a self-trained European mahoot. Especially enjoyed the glimmer of hope at the very, very end.

The lives of servants in the English countryside in the eighteenth- century resembled those of slaves in the American South. The quality of life was dependent on the kindness and good will of the landed gentry. Tom Page, the first narrator of this tale was born into the life of servitude with his father being a groom for a "fair and generous" employer, Mr. Harrington. From his father he learned the practical details of caring for horses and the respect for them that is necessary for communication with any animal. When Mr. Harrington buys two very ill Indian elephants who barely survived a long sea journey, Tom becomes their caretaker. As he recognizes the intelligence of these creatures, he is the ideal person for this task. After a few years, the male elephant is sold and later the female is sold to kindly Lord Bidborough who asks Tom, much to his relief, to accompany her. This becomes an extremely happy time complicated when his son returns to the estate. So Tom and Jenny, as he has always referred to her, become a pair on the journey of life and as Tom understands her thoughts, Jenny becomes an important part of the narration as well as the journey.

If you are looking for an action packed story then this is not the book for you. However if you are looking for a character based novel then pull up a chair, get a drink and relax. This is a book that I found I was captivated by with really realising that I was. It follows a young man and how he ends up taking care of two elephants, in an age when no one had ever seen an elephant never mind know anything about them. As the story unfolds it reveals a life of Tom Page who in many ways is as captive as the elephants he cares for. The male elephant is sold and Tom decided to stay with the female. As the pages turn you are lead through a dialogue that Tom has with the elephant, whether it is simply in his head or out loud you never know. Tom ponders ifs and buts on what could happen, on what he should have done etc. In many ways it is a love story between man and beast. You plod through the life on the elephant and his keeper get to the end of the book I found I was left longing for something more but yet I was satisfied with the ending. I loved this book as, I could sit and feel as though Tom was talking to me. I feel in many ways I will never look at elephants quite the same way again.

When a ship returns to England from abroad with a cargo of exotic animals, groom Tom Page convinces his master that the two mistreated elephants deserve a good home in his stables. Being the only elephants in 18th century England, they attract both attention and superstition. But Tom, whose skill with animals transcends any dangerous preconceptions, quickly learns the peculiarities of the great beasts, restores them to health, and cunningly trains them. When the burden of feeding and caring for the elephants becomes too costly for Tom's master, the elephants are sold to separate owners. Tom chooses to remain with the more docile female, Jenny, and relocates with her to the vast estates of their new Lord Bidborough. These turn out to be the best times of their lives and Tom and Jenny happily pass several years with their generous and amiable Lord, all the while, developing a stronger bond. This is the most whimsical and delightful section of the book. It is a pleasure to watch the relationship between Tom and Jenny develop against the backdrop of Lord Bidborough's gorgeous estate. Lord Bidborough himself is a amusing and agreeable character who appreciates Jenny's novelty and encourages Tom to write a history of his elephant. Upon Lord Bidborough's death, the elephant and her groom change hands again and again until they end up in a London menagerie. This is the bleakest part of Tom and Jenny's story, as the country boy is thrust into a foul and squalid pre-industrial London and Jenny is on display in less than accommodating conditions. However, these trials just reinforce Tom and Jenny's love for each other. I loved Tom's voice and his observations were reminiscent of Life of Pi. The understanding between he and Jenny is poignant and their affection for each other is palpable. This was a wonderfully written novel with heart that effectively conveyed an enduring, tender relationship.

This was one of the best novels I've read in the last five years or so. Christopher Nicholson came up with a fresh premise and he managed to turn a good idea into a very good book indeed. I loved the relationship between Tom, the elephant keeper, and Jenny, the Indian elephant that Tom takes care of for over 20 years. As part of the book deals with Tom having "conversations" with Jenny, the story could have easily become corny in the hands of a lesser writer. The book may be classified as sentimental, but at times it does have an edge to it and some nasty reality seeps into the tale, so, again, it is never corny. Unless of course the reader always finds a sentimental tale to be hackneyed, in which case that particular sort of reader might want to stay away. I, however, confess to being very sentimental, and the relationship between Tom and Jenny, and Tom and some of the other well-drawn human characters, sometimes had me laughing and sometimes had me crying. Besides being a finely crafted novel of 18th century England, which successfully evokes the sights, sounds and life of the time, "The Elephant Keeper" also provides a lot of fascinating information about elephants. I found the book to be sort of Dickensian, but with more of a concentration on mans' relationship to animals rather than on his relationship to people (although there is some of that as well). This is a beautifully written book, and I enjoyed it from first page to last.