There was, perhaps, no living creature more famous in the nineteenth century than Jumbo the elephant. Born in 1860 and taken from the wilds between Sudan and Eritrea at the age of two, he was sold to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, and then to the London Zoological Gardens, before becoming the prized possession of notorious American showman P. T. Barnum. A work of historical fiction following the prized African elephant who stole the show of the Barnum & Bailey Circus — and the hearts of people around the world — exploring exploitation, unrequited love, and the unbreakable bond between living things.
