An Elephant in the Garden

An Elephant in the Garden
Michael Morpurgo

A thrilling and moving novel about an extraordinary animal caught up in a very human war, for anyone who loved The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips or The Butterfly Lion…It’s 1945. Elizabeth's father is fighting with the German army on the eastern front. Her mother works at Dresden zoo, where her favourite animal is a young elephant named Marlene. When the zoo director tells her the dangerous animals must be shot to prevent them running amok if the town is bombed, Elizabeth's mother moves Marlene into the back garden to save her… and then the bombs start to fall.Their home destroyed, Elizabeth and her family must flee the bombed-out city and through the wintery landscape, all the while avoiding the Russian troops who are drawing ever closer. It would be hard enough, without an elephant in tow…

An Elephant in the Garden

Michael Morpurgo

Copyright (#ulink_4d9c2535-b9f2-5722-b866-426ae066bb04)

First published in hardback in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books 2010

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Text copyright © Michael Morpurgo 2010

Illustrations copyright © Michael Foreman 2010

Michael Morpurgo and Michael Foreman reserve the right to be identified as the author and illustrator of the work.

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Source ISBN: 9780007339570

Ebook Edition © MAY 2010 ISBN: 9780007352128

Version 2018-09-05

Dedication (#ulink_0a99613c-0625-50fa-a99d-d1829f00431e)

For Bella, Freddie and Max

Contents

Title Page (#u762e65dd-9fa3-5c84-9a42-d2519996906d)

Copyright (#ud626f686-77ab-5183-8fa3-2399cdfee032)

Dedication (#ulink_a624d34d-09eb-56b8-beb6-1daec895d98b)

Part One Ring of Truth (#u6491fc6d-0e11-545c-ba79-0aa3359175d2)

1. (#u7a00d961-4a8c-59e3-a27e-63813a107aa8)

2. (#u9b358fdc-a212-5109-a4ab-cb10ca79b2ce)

3. (#u696ba750-aa0a-50e0-89e2-55a6e1e269c3)

Part Two Ring of Fire (#ua129c1a1-beaa-5645-a90b-6a11f81c2752)

1. (#u3b1f9477-f34f-545f-a056-053d87f99ea4)

2. (#litres_trial_promo)

3. (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Three Ring of Steel (#litres_trial_promo)

1. (#litres_trial_promo)

2. (#litres_trial_promo)

3. (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Four Ring of Bells (#litres_trial_promo)

1. (#litres_trial_promo)

2. (#litres_trial_promo)

3. (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Part One Ring of Truth (#ulink_f52f6e8e-e582-5984-a953-edac6d9e1592)

1. (#ulink_e71539c3-552b-53d8-98dd-db5cdfca07ee)

TO TELL THE TRUTH, I DON’T THINK LIZZIE WOULD EVER HAVE told us her elephant story at all, if Karl had not been called Karl.

Maybe I’d better explain.

I’m a nurse. I was working part-time in an old people’s nursing home just down the road from where we live. It was part-time because I wanted to be home for Karl, my nine-year-old son. There were just the two of us, so I needed to be there to see him off to school, and be there for him when he got back. But sometimes, at weekends, they asked me to do overtime.

I couldn’t always say no – we all of us had to take our turn to do weekend duties – and if I’m honest, the money helped. So at weekends, if Karl hadn’t got anywhere else to go, or anyone else to look after him, they let me bring him into work with me.

I was a bit worried about it at first – whether anyone would mind, how he’d get on with all the old folks – but he loved it, and as it turned out, so did they. For a start, he had the whole park to play around in. Sometimes he’d bring a few friends. They could climb the trees, kick a football about, whizz around on their mountain bikes. As for the old folk, the children’s visits became quite a feature of their weekends, something for them to look forward to. They would gather around the sitting-room windows to watch them, often for hours on end. And when it was raining, Karl and his friends used to come inside and play chess with them, or watch a film on the television.