To the Elephant Graveyard

Barnes & Noble Discover Great New WritersFor the journalist Tarquin Hall, elephants evoke images of Babar and Dumbo-kindly, lovable creatures. So when he hears of a drunken elephant on the rampage, stalking human prey with serial killer precision, he's more than a bit skeptical. Picking himself up from his dusty Delhi cubby, Hall heads off to Assam, a sparsely populated state bordering Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Burma, to ferret out the truth-in India, a commodity often in short supply.Arriving in Assam, Hall meets with the accomplished elephant hunter Dinesh Choudhury, who has been chosen by the Assamese government to rein in the rogue pachyderm. Initially unconvinced that Choudhury is anything more than a bloodthirsty killer, Hall soon learns that the hunter, in fact, loves elephants. Their joint mission to find the errant elephant emerges as a highly nuanced, thrilling adventure, with Choudhury pushing and prodding Hall to more closely examine the world in which he walks. Along the way they find aging tea planters, remnants of the British raj, insurgents waging a separatist war, and elephant trainers schooled in homespun wisdom. Above all, literally, are the elephants: extraordinarily intelligent and emotive animals, capable of human qualities such as love, loyalty, fear, rage, and even vengeance.While whimsical, playful and a joy to read, Hall's book also imparts a message. But be forewarned: you'll be overcome with an urgent desire to board the next flight to India to experience its mystical, magical world for yourself. Or maybe you'll have to settle for Tarquin Hall's next adventure.