An Elephant in the Garden (review)

In the present day, an old woman named Lizzie tells a nurse and her young son the story of her past during the war. Young Lizzie, just sixteen in 1945 in Dresden, Germany, knows that the war is getting worse, and she's particularly horrified by the fact that the zoo where her mother works plans to shoot the animals to keep them from becoming dangerous during the chaos of bombing. Her mother, however, manages to bring a young elephant, Marlene, home to their house, much to the delight of Lizzie and her little brother, Karli. Marlene takes off into the adjoining park one night, and the family chases after her, just as the first bombers begin to drop their payloads onto Dresden. With no city now to return to, the family presses onward, Marlene in tow; they meet up with and eventually form an alliance with Peter, a stranded RAF navigator, traveling together towards the Americans and, hopefully, safe refuge. While both the narrative framework and the events events are a bit contrived at times, readers compelled by the straightforward "you are there" storytelling and dramatic events will hardly give that a thought. Young Lizzie's story (differentiated from the framing tale by typeface change) is quick-paced and moving, and her teenage viewpoint is believable as she falls for Peter and also tries to make sense of the wartime actions of the adults around her (her pacifist mother, for instance, sings a different tune when confronted with an actual "enemy"). An author's note explains the historical inspirations for Morpurgo's story, including a woman in Belfast who cared for an elephant at her home during the war.