I’ve always had a love affair with elephants. They’re peaceful and passive, apart from when they’re frightened or think their offspring are in danger, they’re vegetarians, and they can live for up to seventy years, mainly spending their time in search of food. Weighing in more than three thousand kilograms and standing about three metres high, they have no problem standing out in a crowd! They’re highly social, forming travelling herds of two or three families, and have a self-awareness and show empathy for their dying or dead. So impressive.
But they’re vulnerable and endangered.
‘African elephants are listed as vulnerable and Asian elephants as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). One of the biggest threats to elephant populations is the ivory trade, as the animals are poached for their ivory tusks. Other threats to wild elephants include habitat destruction and conflicts with local people. Elephants are used as working animals in Asia. In the past, they were used in war; today, they are often controversially put on display in zoos, or exploited for entertainment in circuses. Elephants are highly recognisable and have been featured in art, folklore, religion, literature, and popular culture.’ Wikipedia.
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My latest book, Otto and Frankie, is available in all formats. It’s different from anything else I’ve written and took almost three years in the making.
It’s about a dying man’s fight against injustice, his wife’s unusual affair, and the love from his long-lost daughter.
Otto and his daughter Frankie could not be more different. He’s rich, an acclaimed author, human rights activist, and lives in England. She lives in New York, just about survives from one pay cheque to the next and hasn’t seen or spoken to her father for twenty years. Dutifully reunited by his impending death, she’s amazed to find him a kind and noble man who, while grappling with his wife’s bizarre affair, champions for the world’s forgotten and dispossessed to his last. After Otto’s death, Frankie’s admiration for her father leads her into a dangerous and life changing pursuit.
A compelling read, I’m told.
Nick Wastnage 