Cover of Elephant Moon

Elephant Moon

Based on a true account, an unforgettable tale of

courage and compassion in the worst of times.

As the Second World War rages and the Axis powers threaten the whole world, the Japanese Imperial Army enters Burma and the British and Americans prepare to flee.

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But the human legacy of the British Empire will be left behind in the shape of sixty-two Anglo-Burmese children, born to local women after affairs with foreign men. Half-castes, they are not European enough to be shipped to India, but they are too European to be safe once the Japanese and their friends take power. With no one to protect them, no families and no country, they are to be abandoned.

Their teacher Grace Collins, a young Englishwoman, refuses to join the European evacuation and instead sets out to deliver the orphans to the safety of India herself. She faces impossible odds because between her and India lie one thousand miles of jungle, mountains, rivers and the constant, unseen threat of the Axis powers.

With Japanese soldiers chasing them down, the group struggles westwards as every day their chances of survival shrink. And then one day the early morning mist parts to reveal a herd of fifty-three elephants making their own exodus to India. These elephants, with their awesome strength and kindness, quickly become the orphans' only hope of survival. Based on the true story of the elephant men who rescued refugees and delivered them to safety in 1942, Elephant Moon is an unforgettable epic tale of courage and compassion in the midst of brutality and destruction.

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 300 pages

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