The Elephants' Child

It is 1954 and Melanie is six years old.

Moving with her parents to Bombay (now Mumbai), India, where her father has been posted to undertake a Civil Engineering project, she is anxious and unsettled and finds it difficult to make friends. But before long, entranced by the emotive beauty of her surroundings, she unexpectedly discovers the love and friendship that banish her loneliness.
At times sad and poignant but always enthralling and exhilarating, this is a story that captures the wonders of India as seen through the eyes and imagination of a young English girl.
"Having read this novella in one sitting as it was, quite literally, 'unputdownable'; I would love to recommend it most highly to other readers. The prose is almost poetic, if that observation is allowed in technical English language terms! It is strongly evocative of the sounds, smells and culture of the Indian sub continent in the dying days of the British influence. Sad in parts, ultimately it was a most uplifting story of a child's awakening to the world outside her sheltered existence. Elephants, don't we all have an affinity with them? They seem to have the best of human traits and none of the worst! The child's understanding of, identification with, love for and enjoyment of the elephants, particularly her 'special' one, tugged at my heartstrings. This little book will remain with me for a long time, read it yourself, soon." Reader's Review