Hettie works in a private zoo in Belfast in 1940, and she is thrilled when a young elephant, Violet, is placed in her care. She lives with her mother after her father deserted the family and after her older sister died in childbirth. Living with her depressed mother becomes difficult, so Hettie spends more and more time at the zoo.
The men in her life include Liam, her sister's handsome husband, a committed and violent IRA follower whose advances prove hard to resist. Then there is Samuel, who seems charming and sometimes heroic, yet becomes brutish whenever they are alone, and Ferris, a fellow zookeeper who is steady but bland.
As the bombing of the city becomes more severe, Belfast officials fear zoo animals could escape and threaten citizens, and so the police, which now include Samuel on the force, are ordered to kill large predators and even the elephants. Hettie flees with Violet, raising the dilemma of where to hide her.
The novel, based partly on a real person and a true story, proves irresistible, although it seems to end before the story does. What happens to Violet? What happens to Hettie? Does she choose any of those three men? Readers are left with as many questions as they started with?
As mentioned, I concur about the ending. The story of war, intertwined with zoo keeping, relationships, and war activity in N. Ireland is well told. The ending does not resolve, but rather leaves both the reader and the main character swinging left to right like the elephant trunk, with no end in sight.
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