![]() ![]() Inspired by the true story of Denise Austin, S. ![]() During the bombings, Hettie Quin fights to save her elephant and survive the destruction and escalating sectarian unrest of the city. One evening, over five hours, 674 bombs are dropped and almost a thousand civilians were killed. Six months later, in April 1941, Belfast is attacked. ![]() After the recent loss of her beloved older sister and the abandonment of her father, Hettie finds contentment in her care of Violet and work with her fellow zookeepers. Soon, she becomes Violet’s dedicated zookeeper at the Bellevue Zoo. In October 1940, the reader meets twenty-year-old zookeeper Hettie Quin when Violet, a three-year-old elephant, arrives at the Belfast docks from Ceylon. The novel speaks the tragedy of the times, but also to the ongoing sectarian tensions that still exist in Northern Ireland today. The Elephant of Belfast tells the tender and harrowing story of a young female zookeeper and the elephant, and what they endure together during the German blitz of Belfast. ![]()
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