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AN ELEPHANT IN MY KITCHEN

What the herd taught me about love, courage, and survival.

by Françoise Malby-Anthony with Katja Willemsen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 5, 2019

An engrossing eye-opener on the fragility of South Africa’s fauna.

The sequel to The Elephant Whisperer (2009), which was written by Malby-Anthony’s late husband, conservationist Lawrence Anthony.

In 1998, the author and her husband founded Thula Thula, a game reserve in South Africa where they rescued a herd of elephants. But when Lawrence died unexpectedly, Malby-Anthony was faced with the formidable task of continuing their work alone, with a limited ability to speak the native language in a land where few women hold positions of authority. In this endearing and inspirational follow-up to The Elephant Whisperer —written with the assistance of Willemsen ( Shepherd’s Prayer , 2012), who grew up in South Africa—Malby-Anthony shares how she not only managed to preserve their elephant herd, but went on to Phase 2 of their dream: opening a nursery for orphaned baby elephants, a hippo who didn’t like water, and rhinos whose mothers had been killed for their horns. The author shares multiple stories about her daunting mission to bring these orphaned animals back from the brink of death due to starvation, dehydration, and simple fear. She discusses the disgusting nature of poaching for horns (“they turned her beautiful face into a gruesome mess of blood and flesh, and she was alive when they did it….They butchered her while she was a breathing, living, feeling rhino”), which command incredible prices on the black market, and the extreme measures she takes in order to protect the animals in her care. Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, the game reserve was still brutally attacked. The common threads that run throughout her story are love and respect for these wild animals and the heartwarming nature of the animal families that embrace each other as well as Malby-Anthony and her dogs. The writing is full of vivid descriptions that place readers in the middle of the action, making the book difficult to put down.

Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-250-22014-1

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: Aug. 27, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019

BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | NATURE | GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR

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by Françoise Malby-Anthony with Kate Sidley

by Elie Wiesel & translated by Marion Wiesel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 2006

The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...

Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children. 

He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions. 

Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006

ISBN: 0374500010

Page Count: 120

Publisher: Hill & Wang

Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006

BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | HOLOCAUST | HISTORY | GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | GENERAL HISTORY

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by Elie Wiesel ; edited by Alan Rosen

by Elie Wiesel ; illustrated by Mark Podwal

by Elie Wiesel ; translated by Marion Wiesel

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INTO THE WILD

by Jon Krakauer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1996

A wonderful page-turner written with humility, immediacy, and great style. Nothing came cheap and easy to McCandless, nor...

The excruciating story of a young man on a quest for knowledge and experience, a search that eventually cooked his goose, told with the flair of a seasoned investigative reporter by Outside magazine contributing editor Krakauer (Eiger Dreams, 1990). 

Chris McCandless loved the road, the unadorned life, the Tolstoyan call to asceticism. After graduating college, he took off on another of his long destinationless journeys, this time cutting all contact with his family and changing his name to Alex Supertramp. He was a gent of strong opinions, and he shared them with those he met: "You must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life''; "be nomadic.'' Ultimately, in 1992, his terms got him into mortal trouble when he ran up against something—the Alaskan wild—that didn't give a hoot about Supertramp's worldview; his decomposed corpse was found 16 weeks after he entered the bush. Many people felt McCandless was just a hubris-laden jerk with a death wish (he had discarded his map before going into the wild and brought no food but a bag of rice). Krakauer thought not. Admitting an interest that bordered on obsession, he dug deep into McCandless's life. He found a willful, reckless, moody boyhood; an ugly little secret that sundered the relationship between father and son; a moral absolutism that agitated the young man's soul and drove him to extremes; but he was no more a nutcase than other pilgrims. Writing in supple, electric prose, Krakauer tries to make sense of McCandless (while scrupulously avoiding off-the-rack psychoanalysis): his risky behavior and the rites associated with it, his asceticism, his love of wide open spaces, the flights of his soul.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1996

ISBN: 0-679-42850-X

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Villard

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1995

GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR

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by Jon Krakauer

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Booklover Book Reviews

An Elephant in My Kitchen by Françoise Malby-Anthony, Review

An Elephant in My Kitchen by Francoise Malby-Anthony is a very worthwhile read about the power of individuals to make a positive and lasting impact. Read my full review.

An Elephant in My Kitchen  Book Synopsis

What the Herd Taught Me About Love, Courage and Survival

Françoise Malby-Anthony never expected to find herself responsible for a herd of elephants with a troubled past. A chic Parisienne, her life changed forever when she fell in love with South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony. Together they founded a game reserve but after Lawrence’s death, Françoise faced the daunting responsibility of running Thula Thula without him. Poachers attacked their rhinos, their security team wouldn’t take orders from a woman and the authorities were threatening to cull their beloved elephant family. On top of that, the herd’s feisty new matriarch Frankie didn’t like her.

In this heart-warming and moving book, Françoise describes how she fought to protect the herd and to make her dream of building a wildlife rescue centre a reality. She found herself caring for a lost baby elephant who turned up at her house, and offering refuge to traumatized orphaned rhinos, and a hippo called Charlie who was scared of water. As she learned to trust herself, she discovered she’d had Frankie wrong all along . . .

Filled with extraordinary animals and the humans who dedicate their lives to saving them, An Elephant in My Kitchen by Françoise Malby-Anthony (with Katja Willemsen) is a captivating and gripping read.

( Pan Macmillan , 2018)

Genre: Memoir, Non-Fiction, Drama, Action-Adventure

Disclosure: If you click a link in this post we may earn a small commission to help offset our running costs.

BOOK REVIEW

An Elephant in My Kitchen is described as a sequel to the international bestseller The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony . In it Francoise Malby-Anthony recounts events covered in her husband’s books from her perspective (including their fateful meeting in Paris and her move to South Africa) along with her heartache and struggles to keep their conservation dreams alive since his passing in 2012.

In simple, conversational prose Francoise describes their reserve’s neverending battle to protect their animals from poachers. The war-like footing, equipment and sheer manpower involved, along with the trauma poachers inflict on the animals is confronting.

‘Rhinos,’ he said, ‘have a particularly plaintive cry which once heard, is never forgotten. The screams of agony from rhinos that have had their horns chopped off while still alive should reach into the hearts of all of us.’

But in this context, it makes the wins, especially Francoise’s dedicated team’s care for orphan baby rhinos, elephants and even a hippo, even more heartwarming. I also found the elephant family herd structure and observed behaviours fascinating.

We can learn so much from the sweet acceptance that animals of different species have for one another. Here were two animal orphans who had never seen anything like the other before, but it didn’t matter. They were delighted to be roommates and helped each other adjust to a scary and unfamiliar environment.

It would be hard not to find this personal quest to save these majestic species compelling. Francoise is candid in sharing her personal struggles with the responsibility, bureaucracy and politics involved, along with her views on the spiritual connection between humans and animals. However, there was scope to tighten-up the narrative structure and elevate the prose (particularly the transitions). I think doing so would have enhanced reader suspense and impact.

Francoise Malby-Anthony’s An Elephant in My Kitchen is a very worthwhile read about the power and passion of the many individuals involved and their positive and lasting impact.

BOOK RATING:  The Story 3.5 / 5 ; The Writing 3 / 5  — Overall 3.25

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Related Reads: Tales of an African Vet by Roy Aronson |   Only the Animals by Ceridwen Dovey  |   Dogs with Jobs by Laura Greaves

This review counts toward my participation in the Nonfiction Reader Challenge 2020 .

About the Author, Francoise Malby-Anthony

Francoise Malby-Anthony is a French conservationist who, along with her late husband, Lawrence Anthony, known as ‘the elephant whisperer’, set up the Thula Thula Game Reserve in South Africa to care for troubled elephants in 1999. Following her husband’s death in 2012, Francoise took over as the Matriarch of Thula Thula, helping to care for the injured elephants, and working to create a rescue centre for orphaned rhinos, and expanded the famous elephant reserve to include a baby hippo. Her life and struggle to keep Thula Thula alive and thriving is detailed in her book, An Elephant in My Kitchen .

A booklover with diverse reading interests, who has been reviewing books and sharing her views and opinions on this website and others since 2009.

An Elephant in My Kitchen

What the Herd Taught Me about Love, Courage and Survival

Françoise Malby-Anthony and Katja Willemsen | 4.62 | 1,768 ratings and reviews

Ranked #47 in Wildlife , Ranked #62 in Elephant

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Book Review: An Elephant in my Kitchen

An Elephant in my Kitchen By Francoise Malby-Anthony with Katja Willemsen Pan Books, an imprint of Pan Macmillan 325 pp

South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony saved animals who would have been otherwise destroyed. His book The Elephant Whisperer  is a testament to the healing power of his love. The elephants never forgot his efforts to protect them in his compound, Thula Thula . Upon his death, the herd came to his home and stood in silent vigil for two days. No one could explain how the elephants knew that he had died, nor how for several years on the anniversary of his death, they returned to again express their love and gratitude. His wife, Franchise Malby-Anthony, continues to keep the herd safe from harm. Her book An Elephant in my Kitchen is a continuing saga of the mission to save animals who are perpetually in danger. Poachers will stop at nothing to kill these animals for their horns and tusks. Under Malby-Anthony’s leadership, Thula Thula expands to include an orphanage for infant elephants, hippos and rhinos. The elephants are gentle giants, but let us never forget that they are wild animals who can be as unpredictable as a storm at sea. Ubuntu , the Zulu  expression that means we don’t exist on our own and that we are never alone because we are part of a bigger connected world of humanity, takes on profound meaning. Deep emotional bonds are formed between animals and humans. An Elephant in my Kitchen is filled with the many faces of animals who teach us what it really means to love one another.

Patricia Vaccarino

Patricia Vaccarino is an accomplished writer who has written award-winning film scripts, press materials, articles, essays, speeches, web content, marketing collateral, and ten books.

Book details

An Elephant in My Kitchen

What the Herd Taught Me About Love, Courage and Survival

Elephant Whisperer (Volume 2)

Author: Françoise Malby-Anthony with Katja Willemsen

1 The only walls between humans and elephants are the ones we put up ourselves Violent weather always unsettled our elephants, and the predicted gale-force winds meant there was a danger of trees blowing over and causing breaches in Thula Thula’s perimeter fence. The cyclone had threatened for days, and while we desperately needed water after a scorching summer, we definitely didn’t need a tropical storm. We were worried about the herd, but my husband Lawrence and I were confident that, somewhere in the vast expanse of our game reserve, they had been led to safety by their new matriarch, and my namesake, Frankie. We hadn’t seen them near the house in a while and I missed them. Whenever they visited, their trunks immediately curled up to ‘read’ our house. Were we home? Where were the dogs? Was that a whiff of new bougainvillea? Bijou, my Maltese poodle and sovereign princess of the reserve, hated losing her spot centre stage and always yapped indignantly at them. The adult elephants ignored her, but the babies were as cocky as she was, and would gleefully charge her along the length of the wire fence that bordered our garden, their bodies a gangly bundle of flapping ears and tiny swinging trunks. No matter how much we treasured their visits, we knew it wasn’t safe for them to be this comfortable around humans. The risk of poachers taking advantage of their trust was too high so we planned to slowly wean them off us, or to be more accurate, wean ourselves off them. Not that Lawrence would dream of giving up his beloved Nana, the herd’s original matriarch; theirs was a two-way love affair because Nana had no intention of giving him up either. They met in secret. Lawrence would park his battered Land Rover a good half kilometre away from the herd and wait. Nana would catch his scent in the air, quietly separate from the others and amble towards him through the dense scrubland, trunk high in delighted greeting. He would tell her about his day and she no doubt told him about hers with soft throaty rumbles and trunk-tip touches. What a difference to the distressed creature that had arrived at Thula Thula back in 1999! We had only just bought the game reserve – a beautiful mix of river, savannah and forest sprawled over the rolling hills of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, with an abundance of Cape buffalo, hyena, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and antelope, as well as birds and snakes of every kind, four rhinos, one very shy leopard and three crocodiles. We were very disappointed when we discovered afterwards that the owner had sold off the rhinos. At that point, there weren’t any elephants either and they certainly weren’t part of our plan. Not yet; definitely not so soon. So when a representative of an animal welfare organization asked us to adopt a rogue herd of elephants, we were flabbergasted. We knew nothing about keeping elephants, nor did we have the required boma – secure enclosure – within the reserve where they could stay until they adjusted to their new life with us. ‘The woman must know we don’t have any experience,’ I said to Lawrence. ‘Why us ?’ ‘Probably because no one else is stupid enough; but Frankie, if we say no, they’re going to be shot, even the babies.’ I was horrified. ‘Phone her and say yes. We’ll make a plan somehow. We always do.’ Two weeks later, in the middle of a night of torrential rain, three huge articulated trucks brought them to us. When I saw the size of the vehicles, I was hit by the full impact of what was arriving. Two breeding adult females, two teenagers, and three little ones under the age of ten. We knew enough about elephants by then to know that if there were going to be problems, they’d come from the older ones. Lawrence and I exchanged glances. Let the boma hold. Just as the trucks pulled up at the game reserve, a tyre exploded and the vehicle tilted dangerously in the mud. My heart froze at the elephants’ terrified trumpeting and screeching. It was only at dawn that we managed to get them into the safety of the new enclosure. They weren’t there for long. By the next day, they had figured out a way to avoid the electric fence’s brutal 8,000 volts by pushing a nine-metre-high tambotie tree onto it. The wires shorted and off they went, heading northwards in the direction of their previous home. Hundreds of villages dot the hills and valleys around our game reserve so it was a code-red disaster. We struggled to find them. You’d think it would be easy to find a herd of elephants, but it isn’t. Animals big and small instinctively know how to make themselves disappear in the bush, and disappear they did. Trackers on foot, 4×4s and helicopters couldn’t find them. Frustrated with doing nothing, I jumped into my little Tazz and hit the dirt roads to look for them, with Penny, our feisty bull terrier, as my assistant. ‘ Sawubona , have you seen seven elephants?’ I asked everyone I passed in my best Zulu. But with a French accent that butchered their language, they just stared at the gesticulating blonde in front of them and politely shook their heads. It took ten days to get the herd back to Thula Thula. Ten long, exhausting days. We survived on adrenalin, coffee and very little sleep. How Lawrence managed to prevent them from being shot was a miracle. The local wildlife authority had every right to demand that the elephants be put down. They had human safety issues to consider, and besides, they knew only too well that the chances of rehabilitating the group were close to zero. We were warned that if they escaped again, they would definitely be shot. The pressure to settle them down was terrible and my life changed overnight from worrying about cobras or scorpions in my bedroom to lying awake, waiting for Lawrence to come home, scared stiff he was being trampled to death in his desperation to persuade the elephants to accept their new home. Night after night, he stayed as close to the boma as he dared, singing to them, talking to them and telling them stories until he was hoarse. With tender determination and no shortage of madness, Lawrence breached Nana’s terror of man and gained her trust. One hot afternoon, he came home and literally bounced up the steps towards me. ‘You won’t believe what happened,’ he said, still awestruck. ‘Nana put her trunk through the fence and touched my hand.’ My eyes widened in shock. Nana could have slung her trunk around his body and yanked him through the wires. ‘How did you know she wouldn’t hurt you?’ ‘You know when you can sense someone’s mood without a word being spoken? That’s what it was like. She isn’t angry any more and she isn’t frightened. In fact, I think she’s telling me they’re ready to explore their new home.’ ‘Please get out of this alive,’ I begged. ‘We’re over the worst. I’m going to open the boma at daybreak.’ That night, Lawrence and I sat on our veranda under a star-flung sky and clinked champagne glasses. ‘To Nana,’ I sighed. ‘To my baba,’ Lawrence grinned. * * * The herd had become family over the past thirteen years, so we were extremely worried when the storm warnings worsened and the risk of the cyclone smashing into us increased with every passing hour. Lawrence was away on business and I was on my own. He called me non-stop. How bad are the winds now? Has it started raining yet? Are the rangers patrolling the fence? It was the worst possible time for him to be away. Cyclones are rare in Zululand but when they strike, their devastation can be catastrophic. I found out afterwards that he’d called our insurance company from Johannesburg to double our weather-damage cover. That’s how alarmed he was. I couldn’t wait for him to get back. In the middle of this chaos, at seven o’clock on Friday morning, 2 March 2012, I received a call telling me that my indestructible husband had died of a heart attack during the night. I didn’t believe it. Lawrence had survived war-torn Baghdad and savage Congolese violence, and now I wouldn’t be fetching him from Durban International Airport and bringing him home. I sank onto the bed, numb with shock. The game reserve fell silent in disbelief. ‘It was as if somebody switched off the plugs of life,’ said Mabona, our lodge manageress. Like a robot, I kept going. The storm was still raging and the KwaZulu-Natal emergency services had warned us that it was heading our way. I made sure the guests were safe and instructed the rangers to secure the tented camp with extra ropes and wire. Then Mother Nature gave us an incredible reprieve and Cyclone Irena veered offshore. The crisis was over. We let out a collective groan of relief and prepared to stare grief in the face. How was I going to survive without Lawrence at Thula Thula? It felt impossible, for me and for our staff. Many thought I would take refuge in my native France. He and I had run the game reserve as a rock-solid team. Lawrence, or Lolo , as I called him, took on everything to do with the animals and their safety, and I handled hospitality, marketing and finance. We learned on the hop, adapted to things we knew nothing about and simply tackled each out-of-the-blue challenge that flew our way. Like adopting a herd of emotionally deranged elephants. What were we thinking? But we managed, more than managed, with courage and craziness and plenty of laughter. We loved each other and we loved the oasis we had built in the African bush. Protecting animals, especially elephant and rhino, was the focus of our life together. And now, from one day to the next, my partner in everything was gone. It was unthinkable, and because he’d been away when it happened, his death didn’t feel real. Word spread like bush fire, and emails, calls and messages poured in from around the world. It wasn’t just my grief, it was everyone’s grief. Still it didn’t sink in. I kept expecting a call from him. ‘Frankie, I’m at the airport! Where are you?’ I stumbled through that first weekend in a daze. Very early on Sunday morning, I received a call informing me that the herd had surfaced and were on the move. ‘They’re heading south,’ crackled the radio. ‘Direction main house.’ That was a surprise. The last sighting of them had been during the worst of the storm alerts, when they had been a good twelve hours’ walk from us – and remember, that’s twelve hours powered by mammoth muscles. Now they were a mere fifteen minutes away. But to be honest, I really didn’t give it any more thought. Life was a blur and I could hardly breathe for the things I had to do. Our guests didn’t know what had happened and somehow I had to keep the lodge running for them. Promise, a good-looking game ranger as skilled at rustling up a cocktail as tracking an elusive animal, was the first to see the herd and almost drove into them. They were right at the gate to the main house and reception compound, making it impossible for him to drive through. He immediately noticed something odd. ‘Even the bulls are here,’ he reported. Bachelor elephants tend to stay away from the others, or, if they are close by, they stay out of sight. But that morning, all twenty-one members of the herd jostled about at the gate, clearly agitated. This was highly unusual because their visits were normally so serene. Sometimes, if Lawrence had returned from being away, they would pop by, mill about and graze patiently while they waited for him to come out and say hello. Or if there was a baby to introduce, they would stand along the fence, radiating peace, and gently nudge the new arrival forward to meet him. The Sunday after he died was completely different. They were restless and pacing. They walked in a disorganized jumble to the front of the house, stayed there for a few minutes then shouldered their way to the back of the house again, never grazing, always moving. ‘They were disturbed but I had no idea why. I thought maybe they had had a run-in with poachers. When I got closer, I saw the telltale streaks of stress on the sides of their faces, even the babies’,’ Promise said afterwards, rubbing his own cheek in amazement. An elephant’s temporal gland sits between its eye and ear, and secretes liquid when the animal is stressed, which can create the mistaken impression that it is crying. The elephants at our entrance weren’t crying, but the dark moist lines running down their massive cheeks showed that something had deeply affected them. After about forty minutes, they lined up at the fence separating our home from the bush and their gentle communication started. Solemn rumbles rolled through the air, the same low-frequency language they always used with Lawrence. Mabula, the herd’s dominant bull, paced up and down with the others; just Nana stood by silently, as if waiting for Lawrence to appear but knowing he wasn’t going to. We hadn’t seen them in months. Why now? Why this exact weekend? And why were they so anxious? No science book can explain why our herd came to the house that weekend. But to me, it makes perfect sense. When my husband’s heart stopped, something stirred in theirs, and they crossed the miles and miles of wilderness to mourn with us, to pay their respects, just as they do when one of their own has died. * * * I grew up a city girl, a Parisian through and through, who could tell you the quickest way to Saint-Germain-des-Prés but who knew nothing at all about animals. Our family never kept pets, although we did once have a tortoise in our garden. Living and working in a city, even a beautiful one like Paris, there’s no time to notice nature as you do in the bush. It’s metro , boulot , dodo , as they say in France, when life is a relentless treadmill of commute , work , sleep . Yet even as I pounded the Parisian treadmill, somewhere deep inside me I always knew I would end up in a foreign country. But living in the sticks in Africa? Not that foreign. And yet there I was, in the sticks, alone, and burying my husband. I didn’t know where to begin. I asked Vusi and Promise, Lawrence’s trusted right-hand men, to come to the house to talk about the scattering of his ashes. ‘We should move Mnumzane’s bones to the dam. I want Lawrence and him to be together,’ I murmured. Mkhulu Dam was Lawrence’s favourite spot at Thula Thula. He and Vusi had built it themselves and it’s where he went to clear his mind, fill his soul. Mnumzane had been his favourite boy elephant who had come to us as part of the original group, a distraught youngster whose mother and sister had been shot before his eyes. Even though he was only a teenager when he arrived, just a kid really, and a troubled one too, he understood the responsibility of being the oldest male, and the very first thing he did was charge Lawrence to stop him from getting too close to his family. Lawrence admired his gutsiness so much, he named him Mnumzane , Zulu for ‘Sir’, and it became one of his favourite stories. ‘He must have been terrified,’ Lawrence loved to recount. ‘He’d just travelled eighteen hours in a rattling iron prison on wheels and, once out of it, everything was foreign. No familiar smells, no safe hiding place to run to, just a bunch of exhausted human beings who would have represented extreme danger to him, but he still bloody well charged us. If I’d been wearing a hat, I would have raised it to him.’ Some months afterwards, Mnumzane was ousted from the herd. It’s how elephants bring up their boys – they separate them and their growing testosterone levels from the teenage girls. It stops inbreeding and makes sure genes are spread far and wide. In Mnumzane’s case, that didn’t apply because he was an orphan with no family links to any of the female youngsters, but rules are rules in the elephant kingdom and Nana was a strict matriarch who wouldn’t tolerate hanky-panky on her watch. It was heartbreaking how he suffered. He had already lost his mother and sister, and now he was losing his foster mum and siblings too. He barely ate and the only way to stop him from wasting away in misery was by tempting him with special snacks of alfalfa and thorny acacia branches, which he guzzled with the same relish a human teenager guzzles burgers. I’ll never forget the day Mnumzane decided to let Lawrence know exactly how he felt about him. This great big four-ton elephant lumbered up to his Land Rover and stood in front of him, stopping him from going further. ‘I got the fright of my life,’ Lawrence told me later, ‘but then he fixed me with those old-soul eyes of his and lolled his giant head from side to side, as if to say no need to be so jumpy, old man , and I just knew he was telling me that he loved being with me.’ ‘He’s looking for a new papa ,’ I teased. ‘You’re probably right, and it’s something we have to think about. He’s getting to the age where he’ll need to be kept in line by someone who can pack a bigger punch than me!’ From then on, Mnumzane regularly sought out Lawrence for father–son bush chats. I don’t know who loved those get-togethers more. Lawrence, the proud foster father, watching his boy grow up, or Mnumzane, the rejected teenager, flourishing under Lawrence’s love and acceptance. So it was devastating for Lawrence when this gentle giant suddenly turned violent. Unbeknown to anyone, mind-blowing pain from an abscess was literally driving Mnumzane crazy, and when he killed a rhino then utterly wrecked a broken-down 4 x 4, Lawrence knew it was time. Putting him down was one of the most traumatic decisions he ever faced. He withdrew with grief and I didn’t know how to console him. He even stopped joining guests at the bar, something he loved to do. Often he disappeared for hours on end and I knew he was visiting the site where his boy had fallen. We went for long drives in the bush. We sat on the edge of Mkhulu Dam and reminisced about all the things Mnumzane had done in his short time with us. ‘A bloody abscess . A jab of antibiotics would have fixed it. I should have known .’ ‘You couldn’t have. Not even you, Lolo,’ I said countless times. They were kindred spirits, those two – brave, unpredictable, funny and tender. I knew with all my heart that reuniting them in death was exactly what Lawrence would have wanted. * * * Only snatches of memory remain of the day we scattered his ashes. I remember the convoy of cars that seemed as long as the road itself. I remember the clouds of dust from the dirt track when we headed north to where the dam was. I remember we stood in a half-moon at the water’s edge. I remember anecdotes and stories. I remember tears and laughter. I remember dark ripples in the water. By then, I had been in South Africa for twenty-five years and I loved and embraced its melting pot of traditions and cultures, but for a few moments that day I yearned for the busy familiarity of Montparnasse where I had lived in Paris. It was the one and only time I longed for France because my life was in South Africa, and like Nana, my family were now the animals and people at Thula Thula. Living in the bush teaches you that life is a magnificent cycle of birth and death, and nothing showed me that more powerfully than when Nana gave birth to a beautiful baby boy around the time of Lawrence’s passing. Of course, I named him Lolo. Copyright © 2018 by Françoise Malby-Anthony and Katja Willemsen

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THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER "Malby-Anthony offers a book of great inspiration and wide appeal to nature-loving readers. " —Publishers...

Book Details

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER "Malby-Anthony offers a book of great inspiration and wide appeal to nature-loving readers. " —Publishers Weekly A heart-warming sequel to the international bestseller The Elephant Whisperer , by Lawrence Anthony's wife Françoise Malby-Anthony. A chic Parisienne, Françoise never expected to find herself living on a South African game reserve. But then she fell in love with conservationist Lawrence Anthony and everything changed. After Lawrence’s death, Françoise faced the daunting responsibility of running Thula Thula without him. Poachers attacked their rhinos, their security team wouldn’t take orders from a woman and the authorities were threatening to cull their beloved elephant family. On top of that, the herd’s feisty new matriarch Frankie didn’t like her. In this heart-warming and moving book, Françoise describes how she fought to protect the herd and to make her dream of building a wildlife rescue center a reality. She found herself caring for a lost baby elephant who turned up at her house, and offering refuge to traumatized orphaned rhinos, and a hippo called Charlie who was scared of water. As she learned to trust herself, she discovered she’d had Frankie wrong all along. Filled with extraordinary animals and the humans who dedicate their lives to saving them, An Elephant in My Kitchen is a captivating and gripping read.

Imprint Publisher

Thomas Dunne Books

9781250220158

In The News

" An Elephant in My Kitchen is a moving and often amusing account of a life filled with compassion and resolve." — Wall Street Journal "The writing is full of vivid descriptions that place readers in the middle of the action, making the book difficult to put down. An engrossing eye-opener on the fragility of South Africa's fauna." — Kirkus "The most magical book about the African bush since Born Free" — Daily Mail "A must-read for animal lovers" — People's Friend

About the Creators

An Elephant in my Kitchen – Review

After the passing of her husband Lawrence Anthony, Francoise Malby-Anthony and co-author Katja Willemsen take up the pen in An Elephant in my Kitchen to bring wildlife lovers another incredible chapter in the ongoing wildlife conservation saga at South Africa’s renowned Thula Thula (and Thula Thula Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre).

With remarkably raw and honest conviction, Malby-Anthony recounts a number of personal stories in this latest chapter of her life. Some stories will be warmly familiar to readers of The Elephant Whisperer and remind us of the wonderful elephants who still live under her watchful care. She expands on these stories from her own point of view and also tells of new and on-going events that have happened in the intervening years including stories about the wild animals who have been rescued.

Many stories are fun and lighthearted. Others touch on the deeply moving, soulful themes of perseverance through all the trials that a person in a position of responsibility can endure. As with many challenges in life, sweet success is tempered by the anguish of loss and Malby-Anthony reflects with raw honesty on each of these events. Co-author Katja Willemsen’s stewardship gently coaxes these memories into our minds, to cherish and reflect on for our own sake, and to speak of the hardship that Thula Thula has endured and the known and unpredictable hardships that they will face courageously as they merge wildlife safaris and wildlife conservation to create a new, sustainable enterprise. Through it all is the story of resilience as Malby-Anthony and all her supporters work to keep the many people and wild animals of Thula Thula safe from harm and reduce human-wildlife conflict — an unceasing and herculean task.

Don’t worry if you haven’t read The Elephant Whisperer by her late husband Lawrence Anthony. Each book can stand alone as a testament to the character of the Anthonys and the warmth and kindness of everyone at Thula Thula. There is no perfect entry-point into real-life wildlife conservation, but An Elephant in my Kitchen is as good a starting point as any and is sure to leave readers feeling deeply connected to the South African bush and inspired to do more to protect the world’s wildlife.

Readers are sure to enjoy their return to the almost magical world of Thula Thula. We are sure that they, like us, will also be looking forward to future real-life adventures from the picturesque slice of heaven home to the reborn Thula Thula Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre.

Further Reading:

Readers who enjoy heartfelt stories of wildlife conservation will also be interested in Kobie Krüger ‘s The Wilderness Family where a warm and vibrant reality of the South African lowveld is brought to life as experienced by her game warden husband and their family living inside the world-famous Kruger National Park in South Africa. Francoise Malby-Anthony ‘s late husband Lawrence Anthony has also written about his other conservation adventures in Africa and the Middle East, among them Babylon’s Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo and The Last Rhinos: My Battle to Save One of the World’s Greatest Creatures , which are stellar memoirs that are both fascinating and insightful.

For in-depth and incredible stories of wildlife behavior and conservation we strongly recommend Gareth Patterson ‘s several books on lion conservation, rehabilitation, and rewilding including: To Walk with Lions , Last of the Free , and My Lion’s Heart: A Life for the Lions of Africa . Dame Daphne Sheldrick ’s masterfully written memoir Love, Life, and Elephants: An African Love Story also makes excellent reading and recounts a significant portion of her life and work dedicated to conserving and rehabilitating elephants in Kenya. Essential reading for elephant lovers and anyone with a hunger for African adventure.

This and other PoachingFacts reviews are also available on GoodReads.com .

An Elephant in my Kitchen

A blonde, chic parisienne, françoise never expected to find herself living on a south african game reserve. but when she fell in love with renowned conservationist lawrence anthony her life took an unexpected turn. lawrence died in 2012 and françoise was left to face the tough reality of running thula thula without him, even though she knew very little about conservation. she was short on money, poachers were threatening their rhinos, and one of their elephants was charging land rovers on game drives and terrifying guests. there was no time to mourn when thula thula’s human and animal family were depending on her., their elephant herd, rescued by lawrence, shared françoise’s grief at his passing but over time forged a new relationship with her. one day a baby, tom, became separated from the herd and found his way into françoise’s kitchen. another day there was a desperate race against time to save a baby who had a snare wrapped around his face and couldn’t open his mouth to suckle. meanwhile, françoise fulfilled her dream of building a rescue centre for orphaned rhinos and other wildlife. abandoned hippo baby charlie, who hated water, joined the centre’s rhinos and quickly became best friends with a little girl rhino called makhosi. the traumatised babies had round the clock care, including an unlikely nursemaid in the form of a german shepherd called duma. if you loved lawrence’s the elephant whisperer, or just want to spend time with some very special animals, then you won’t want to miss this sparkling book., some of its chapters lifted me up while others brought me to my knees, between them illustrating the biodiversity crisis playing out across modern africa. it's a call to arms, and an epic of love and courage. i strongly recommend it..

Thula Thula Private Game Reserve 

Wildlife Rehabilitation 

Volunteer Camp 

News and book release , german release, international release, extraordinary article in the daily mail - uk, another great article .

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•   Authors & Illustrators
•   Françoise Malby-Anthony
•   An Elephant in My Kitchen

An Elephant in My Kitchen

Françoise malby-anthony , katja willemsen.

The most magical book about the African Bush since Born Free. Daily Mail

A beautiful love story between humans and the majestic elephants. Jo Malone , Daily Express

A must-read for animal lovers. People's Friend

Books by Françoise Malby-Anthony

The Elephants of Thula Thula

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An Elephant in My Kitchen: What the Herd Taught Me about Love, Courage and Survival Hardcover – 26 July 2018

'The most magical book about the African bush since Born Free ' - Daily Mail

Françoise Malby-Anthony never expected to find herself responsible for a herd of elephants with a troubled past. A chic Parisienne, her life changed forever when she fell in love with South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony. Together they founded a game reserve but after Lawrence’s death, Françoise faced the daunting responsibility of running Thula Thula without him. Poachers attacked their rhinos, their security team wouldn’t take orders from a woman and the authorities were threatening to cull their beloved elephant family. On top of that, the herd’s feisty new matriarch Frankie didn’t like her.

In this heart-warming and moving book, Françoise describes how she fought to protect the herd and to make her dream of building a wildlife rescue centre a reality. She found herself caring for a lost baby elephant who turned up at her house, and offering refuge to traumatized orphaned rhinos, and a hippo called Charlie who was scared of water. As she learned to trust herself, she discovered she’d had Frankie wrong all along . . .

Filled with extraordinary animals and the humans who dedicate their lives to saving them, An Elephant in My Kitchen is a captivating and gripping read.

• Part of series Elephant Whisperer
• Print length 336 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Sidgwick & Jackson
• Publication date 26 July 2018
• Reading age 18 years and up
• Dimensions 15.3 x 2.8 x 23.4 cm
• ISBN-10 150986489X
• ISBN-13 978-1509864898
• See all details

Product description

Book description, from the inside flap.

A chic Parisienne, Françoise never expected to find herself living on a South African game reserve. But then she fell in love with conservationist Lawrence Anthony and everything changed. After Lawrence’s death, Françoise faced the daunting responsibility of running Thula Thula without him. Poachers attacked their rhinos, their security team wouldn’t take orders from a woman and the authorities were threatening to cull their beloved elephant family. On top of that, the herd’s feisty new matriarch Frankie didn’t like her.

About the Author

Product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sidgwick & Jackson; Main Market edition (26 July 2018)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 150986489X
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1509864898
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.3 x 2.8 x 23.4 cm
• 25 in Zoos & Wildlife Parks
• 110 in Wild Mammals
• 130 in Animal Rights

About the authors

Katja willemsen.

After a frenetic career in marketing and advertising, Katja said goodbye to briefcases, bosses and bags under her eyes and began to write full time.

Her first book, Shepherd’s Prayer, was a page turning part thriller, part human drama. She is intrigued by people who seem strong on the surface but are often vulnerable or broken underneath. Her fiction themes deal with the secrets and shadows of life.

An Elephant in my Kitchen is her first non-fiction. Writing about Françoise Malby-Anthony’s life on her game reserve in Zululand after the death of her husband was a surprising turn of events for Katja but she loved every minute of bringing Françoise's stories alive.

Katja Willemsen was born in Holland, grew up in South Africa and now lives in a tiny French hamlet in the Pyrenees with her husband Dave and their two and a half cats: Pixie, Frodo-Morodo and rescue-kitten Lucie.

More on: www.katjawillemsen.com

Françoise Malby-Anthony

Francoise was born in the south of France and after graduating in business administration at the University of Montpellier lived in Italy, Venezuela, London and the USA before moving to Paris in 1981. Francoise worked as head of the international department of a Chamber of Commerce in the north of France until she met her future husband Lawrence Anthony in London in January 1987 and she moved to South Africa in December 1987. Lawrence and Francoise were based in Durban, Kwa Zulu Natal.

In 1998, Lawrence and Francoise bought a rundown hunting game reserve in the heart of Zululand, and named it Thula Thula, Zulu word for “peace and tranquillity”. After Lawrence wrote the best seller “The Elephant Whisperer” in 2010, the emotional story of how he saved a herd of wild elephants from death by rescuing them and bringing trust into humans for the first time, he became recognised as an international best-selling author and conservationist.

Lawrence passed away on the 2nd of March 2012 from a heart attack. Francoise carries on his conservation work at Thula Thula game reserve as well as the running of both lodges. In August 2012 she created the Thula Thula Rhino Fund, after one of her orphan rhinos were shot at by poachers just 2 weeks after Lawrence passed. The Rhino Fund initiated several projects aimed at the protection of the rhinos and the creation of a rehabilitation centre for rhinos who have been orphaned from poaching. In 2016, Francoise founded the South African Conservation Fund, Thula Thula non-profit organisation, which incorporated the Rhino fund and wildlife protection actions, as well other conservation projects as the expansion of Thula Thula for the elephant habitat, as the herd from seven elephants on their arrival in 1999 is now twenty nine and they are in great need of additional space, the Thula Thula Wildlife rehabilitation centre where orphans or wounded wildlife are being taken care of before being rehabilitated into the wild where they belong, and the Thula Thula Volunteers Academy, where people from all over the world come to work and be educated into the world of conservation in an African game reserve. The volunteers Camp academy will open on the 1st of July 2018.

Francoise runs Thula Thula with her team of 50 loyal employees. As hunting is not permitted, all funds for conservation are generated by the two safari lodges at Thula Thula that Francoise created in 2000 and 2006. These lodges welcome international guests for eco and photo safaris. Thula Thula also relies on the generosity of donors to the South African Conservation Fund.

Francoise’s book AN ELEPHANT IN MY KITCHEN, the sequel of THE ELEPHANT WHISPERER by Lawrence Anthony, was launched on the 26th of July 2018 in the UK, Australia, India, New Zealand and Canada. Since its release on the first week of August in South Africa, AN ELEPHANT IN MY KITCHEN has been number one best seller. Described as “The most magical book about the African bush since Born Free” by the UK Daily Mail, the book relates to the life changing responsibility in the world of wildlife conservation, and the numerous challenges she encounters while running the game reserve after Lawrence passed away in 2012.

The book was released in France in April 2019, in Germany in February 2019, and released in the USA in November 2019. The book was published in Dutch in June 2020. It is will be published in Chinese by the end of 2022.

A movie on the book “The Elephant Whisperer” is planned to be released in 2023, as well as a full length documentary on Francoise’s life by a UK film production.

Francoise received the prestigious award “Prix du Public des Trophées des Français de l’étranger» in March 2019 in Paris, at the Ministry of Foreign affairs, in recognition for her work in conservation in South Africa.

She received the prestigious Medal of “Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Merite” by the French Government in February 2022 for her work in Wildlife Conservation at Thula Thula Game Reserve.

Francoise next book “THE ELEPHANTS OF THULA THULA”, published by Pan MacMillan UK, will be released in September 2022. This book relates the entertaining stories and adventures of the wilds of Thula Thula despite all adversities and challenges encountered, while being an inspirational tale about all work done by Francoise and her team to preserve African wildlife, with the introduction of new species and the successful expansion of the game reserve, working closely with local communities to create more space for wildlife conservation, and bringing awareness to the dramatic situation of endangered species in Africa.

The book is planned to be released in the UK in September 2022, then successively in Australia, New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka. USA and Canada and of course South Africa. It is planned for the German version and the French version in 2023.

Customer reviews

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Customers say

Customers find the book beautiful, colorful, and illuminating. They describe it as amazing, compelling, and enjoyable. Readers describe the emotional content as uplifting, heartbreaking, and encouraging. They praise the writing quality as thoughtful and heartfelt. Customers find it inspiring and heartwarming.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the book amazing, compelling, and beautifully written. They say it's a perfect nighttime read and well worth reading at any age. Readers also mention the book is a page-turner.

"...I recommend this book to everyone. Not only enjoyable , but educational too." Read more

"... It was brilliant . It transports you back to Thula Thula and the adventures of these gorgeous elephants, rhinos etc...." Read more

"...Sad at times, but worth reading if you love these animals...." Read more

"...While I did not find this book so riveting or moving it was still a good read and the background knowledge from 'The Elephant Whisperer' certainly..." Read more

Customers find the book inspiring, heartwarming, and magical. They say it shows the bravery and tenacity of the conservationists. Readers also say the book is a moving account of life at Thula Thula. Overall, they say it's a great book with a lot of insight into the day-to-day struggles of running an animal sanctuary.

"... Heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time." Read more

"...gave me goose flesh, tears, laughter and was filled with so much love for all animals !..." Read more

"...I recommend this book to everyone. Not only enjoyable, but educational too ." Read more

"...The book is so moving and insightful I recommend everyone read it as well as the three by Lawrence Anthony...." Read more

Customers find the book emotional, uplifting, and heartbreaking. They say it's sad and encouraging at the same time. Readers also mention the book is an emotionally packed story of triumph.

"...Heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time ." Read more

"...Great story, incredibly sad in places (in fact I cried at most chapters!) but a fantastic read. Highly recommended." Read more

"... Laughter and tears - and she survived, elephants survived, rhinos (her very special babies) survived ... though not all, and you'll need a box of..." Read more

"...Reading this book brought out so much emotion . From laughing out loud to fury at the poachers and everything in between...." Read more

Customers find the writing quality of the book thoughtful, heartfelt, and beautiful. They say it's a lovely account of the author's life and the problems she encountered along the way.

"... Beautifully written ..." Read more

"...A page-turner of a book, brilliantly written . Sometimes sad, sometimes jubilant, but that is reality and always the way with wild animal rescue...." Read more

"...This is a well written and heart-warming story which I highly recommend." Read more

"A fantastic story, beautifully written . I salute you, Frankie! X" Read more

Customers find the book beautiful, well-written, and colorful. They say it depicts a number of truly lovable and dedicated people.

"...It also depicts a number of truly lovable and dedicated people without whom Françoise could not have succeeded, not least the head ranger, the..." Read more

"...It’s gripping, heart warming and just beautiful ." Read more

"A beautiful rendition of the hard work this amazingly strong lady continues on with...." Read more

"Beautiful book from start to finish, which paints a colourful picture of life in the bush whilst trying to run a game reserve and deal with..." Read more

Customers find the pacing of the book very moving, inspirational, and gripping. They also describe the book as wonderful, heartbreaking, and joyful.

"This book and its companion The Elephant Whisperer are greatly moving accounts of the heroic struggle to save endangered species in Africa...." Read more

"...Parts of the book are very moving and inspirational. I have visited Thula Thula and hope to do so again sometime soon. It is a wonderful place." Read more

"...a disappointment after "The Elephant Whisper" but it was just as gripping a story . I didn't want to put it down...." Read more

Customers find the book hard to put down. They say it's brilliant.

"This book was hard to put down . Hats off to the wonderful people helping animals humans have tried to destroy and succeeded all too often...." Read more

"...A thoroughly enjoyable, yet emotional read at times. Very hard to put down !" Read more

" Brilliant book couldn't put it down . I absolutely loved the elephant whisper and this book puts his wife's (Francois) perspective on the events...." Read more

"Loved this book. Couldn’t put it down ." Read more

Reviews with images

Beautiful creatures and a lovely story of how a reserve came to be

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An Elephant in My Kitchen: What the Herd Taught Me About Love, Courage, and Survival Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

The international best seller

"Malby-Anthony offers a book of great inspiration and wide appeal to nature-loving readers." ( Publishers Weekly )

A heart-warming sequel to the international best seller The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony's wife Françoise Malby-Anthony.

A chic Parisienne, Françoise never expected to find herself living on a South African game reserve. But then, she fell in love with conservationist Lawrence Anthony, and everything changed. After Lawrence’s death, Françoise faced the daunting responsibility of running Thula Thula without him. Poachers attacked their rhinos, their security team wouldn’t take orders from a woman, and the authorities were threatening to cull their beloved elephant family. On top of that, the herd’s feisty new matriarch, Frankie, didn’t like her.

In this heart-warming and moving audiobook, Françoise describes how she fought to protect the herd and to make her dream of building a wildlife rescue center a reality. She found herself caring for a lost baby elephant who turned up at her house and offering refuge to traumatized orphaned rhinos and a hippo called Charlie who was scared of water. As she learned to trust herself, she discovered she’d had Frankie wrong all along.

Filled with extraordinary animals and the humans who dedicate their lives to saving them, An Elephant in My Kitchen is a captivating and gripping listen.

• Part of series Elephant Whisperer
• Listening Length 8 hours and 24 minutes
• Author Françoise Malby-Anthony, see all
• Narrator Roshina Ratnam
• Audible release date November 5, 2019
• Language English
• Publisher Macmillan Audio
• ASIN B07Z5CKRVG
• Version Unabridged
• Program Type Audiobook
• See all details

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Customer reviews

• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 5 star 78% 16% 4% 1% 1% 78%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 4 star 78% 16% 4% 1% 1% 16%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 3 star 78% 16% 4% 1% 1% 4%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 2 star 78% 16% 4% 1% 1% 1%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 1 star 78% 16% 4% 1% 1% 1%

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

Customers say

Customers find the book lovely, mesmerizing, and a real page-turner. They say it's educational, uplifting, and filled with wisdom and wonder. Readers describe the story as beautiful, engaging, and interesting. They find the story heartwarming, poignant, and funny.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the book lovely, incredible, and mesmerizing. They say it's a real page-turner and brutally honest. Readers also mention the book is well-written and genuine.

"...story of her courage and dedication to protecting these beautiful and majestic animals . Always her perseverance during her grief...." Read more

"...This book is a wonderful read and fills one with great empathy for the never-ending fight for our natural environment and the conservation of wild..." Read more

"...It's worth reading to find out how passionate some people are about saving a species, and the effort that goes into it, but it doesn't go into..." Read more

"... Both books are well written and it is easy to feel you are there in Africa at Thula Thula, the reserve the Anthony’s founded, getting to intimately..." Read more

Customers find the book filled with wisdom, wonder, inspiration, and hope. They say it's engrossing, fascinating, and uplifting. Readers mention the book makes them laugh, cry, and respect and admire the profiles of intelligent and sensitive animals. They also say it educates them about many animals.

"Really enjoyed this book so much. Wonderful true story of her courage and dedication to protecting these beautiful and majestic animals...." Read more

"...What was good about this one was more info on the unbelievable communication , empathy and interactions between the elephants and with humans...." Read more

"...The books will fascinate and inspire you , bring tears and joy, and hope for humanity...." Read more

"... It’s inspiring & emotional. The horrible attack on the animal orphanage made me cry especially as it was all so pointless...." Read more

Customers find the story beautiful, engaging, and full of inspiration. They appreciate the interesting behind-the-scenes of life at an animal wildlife park. Readers also mention the stories are full of terror and peace, cruelty and kindness. They describe the book as an enchanting escape from today's realities and a rollercoaster ride of joys and sorrows.

"...into it, the better the writing (likely the co-writer) and stories are relayed vividly and kept my interest as much as the first book...." Read more

"...Both of these books are a roller coaster ride of joys and sorrows ...." Read more

"This is a great and interesting story . It led me to The Elephant Whisperer which was written before this book...." Read more

"...I cannot recommend this book full of drama , intrigue and emotional moments more highly to readers interested in animals and their fight for survival..." Read more

Customers find the book heartwarming, deeply heartfelt, and enlightening. They say it grips them from the start and has them sobbing. Readers also say it gives a poignant picture of the sensitive, intelligent, and social nature of elephants. They mention the book is touching, horrifying, and uplifting.

"...It’s inspiring & emotional . The horrible attack on the animal orphanage made me cry especially as it was all so pointless...." Read more

"...This is a soul scorching record of personal loss combined with a determination to keep Lawrence Anthony's reserve alive...." Read more

"...They are not simply big dumb animals. They have deep emotions , a disciplined family structure, and they no doubt possess extra-sensory perception...." Read more

Customers find the book hilarious, heartwarming, and relaxing. They say it brings tears and joy. Readers also mention the book is engaging and a feel-good read.

" Pleasure and relaxing ." Read more

"...named Charlie with a fear of water, this book is the hilarious and heartwarming tale of Françoise's wild journey...." Read more

"...The books will fascinate and inspire you, bring tears and joy , and hope for humanity...." Read more

"...It will make you smile, laugh out-loud and feel good , all at the same time. Highly recommend both.rmf" Read more

Customers find the heroine in the book to be astonishingly brave and strong. They say she's a tale of love, tragedy, and survival.

"...Frankie is an astoundingly brave and committed lady who describes her trials after her husband dies, and how she rose above this tragedy...." Read more

"...and reserves. What they achieve here is magnificent, and brave ...." Read more

"...I greatly admire the strength of Frankie , and her courage in keeping the reserve running after the loss of her beloved husband...." Read more

"...This is a tale of love, tragedy, and survival , and always the beloved elephants. A must read for any animal lover." Read more

Customers find the elephants in the book amazing, genuine, and caring. They appreciate the sensitive, intelligent, and social nature of the animals.

"A fo!low up to The Elephant Whisperer. E!ephants are amazing creatures !..." Read more

"One of the best books I’ve read. So genuine and caring towards the elephants . I also learned a few things about an incredible animal." Read more

"Book was full of info about elephants and the people who care about them a really very special...." Read more

"...such a poignant picture of the sensitive, intelligent, and social nature of elephants , in particular! it is very touching." Read more

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The author and her late husband are making a difference in the world!

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