The elephant of Belfast: a novel

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Author:
Walsh, S. Kirk
Language:
English
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Cary Regional - Adult Fiction
WALSH
East Regional - Adult Fiction has 2
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Eva H. Perry Regional - Adult Fiction
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ISBN:
9781640094000

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Grouping Information

Grouped Work ID6cd45559-deab-a5f0-8344-588c81226a0a
Grouping Titleelephant of belfast
Grouping Authors kirk walsh
Grouping Categorybook
Grouping LanguageEnglish (eng)
Last Grouping Update2025-07-08 05:08:35AM
Last Indexed2025-07-12 05:16:08AM

Solr Fields

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author
Walsh, S. Kirk
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Walsh, S. Kirk
available_at_catalog
Cary Regional
East Regional
Eva H. Perry Regional
Fuquay-Varina Community
North Regional
Northeast Regional
Oberlin Regional
Southeast Regional
collection_catalog
Adult Fiction
detailed_location_catalog
Cary Regional - Adult Fiction
East Regional - Adult Fiction
Eva H. Perry Regional - Adult Fiction
Fuquay-Varina Community - Adult Fiction
Holly Springs Community - Adult Fiction
North Regional - Adult Fiction
Northeast Regional - Adult Fiction
Oberlin Regional - Adult Fiction
Southeast Regional - Adult Fiction
display_description
"The Elephant of Belfast chronicles a seven-month period of time when the Germans unexpectedly bombed Belfast, Northern Ireland, also known as the Belfast Blitz. Through the lens of the Bellevue Zoo and one of its zookeepers, twenty-year-old Hettie Quin, the novel animates how the war irrevocably impacted-and shaped the lives of Belfast's citizens in broad and intimate ways. In October 1940, Hettie meets Violet, a three-year-old Asian elephant arriving at the Belfast docks from Ceylon. Soon, she becomes Violet's dedicated zookeeper at the Bellevue Zoo. At the same time, Hettie continues to experience the grief related to the recent loss of her beloved older sister, Anna, and the abandonment of her father, Thomas, who left her mother, Rose. On April 15th , 1941, Belfast is attacked for five hours, with 674 bombs falling, and almost a thousand civilians being killed. During the bombings and its aftermath, Hettie does all that she can to save her elephant, and survive the destruction and escalating sectarian unrest of the city. Even though Hettie is still only twenty years old by the novel's end, she's aged at least a decade, her life and perspective transforming in tragic and unexpected ways. Taken altogether, The Elephant of Belfast reflects a complicated portrait of loss, grief, love, and resilience, and how the zoo and the city of Belfast suffered during these catastrophic attacks. At the narrative's heart is a changing relationship between a young woman and an elephant: At first, it seems that Hettie saves Violet, but in the end, Violet saves her"--
format_catalog
Book
format_category_catalog
Books
id
6cd45559-deab-a5f0-8344-588c81226a0a
isbn
9781640094000
last_indexed
2025-07-12T09:16:08.320Z
lexile_score
-1
literary_form
Fiction
literary_form_full
Fiction
local_callnumber_catalog
WALSH
owning_library_catalog
Wake County Public Libraries
owning_location_catalog
Cary Regional
East Regional
Eva H. Perry Regional
Fuquay-Varina Community
Holly Springs Community
North Regional
Northeast Regional
Oberlin Regional
Southeast Regional
primary_isbn
9781640094000
publishDate
2021
publisher
Counterpoint Press
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
Belfast (Northern Ireland) -- History -- Bombardment, 1941 -- Fiction
Historical fiction
title_display
The elephant of Belfast : a novel
title_full
The elephant of Belfast : a novel / S. Kirk Walsh
title_short
The elephant of Belfast
title_sub
a novel
topic_facet
History

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Bib IdFormatFormat CategoryEditionLanguagePublisherPublication DatePhysical DescriptionAbridged
ils:750785BookBooksFirst hardcover editionEnglishCounterpoint Press2021324 pages ; 24 cm

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