ABOUT
THE BOOK

If elephants could tell us just one story, it would be the story of Mud. Mud is a young elephant cow, orphaned at birth and blessed with visionary powers. For many years, she and her adoptive family roam the plains of Africa until prolonged drought forces them to stay close to one of the few remaining water holes. It is there that ivory poachers find them and kill, or drive off, almost all the cows and their young. Mud, now an adolescent and pregnant with her first calf, sets out with the wounded and traumatized survivors in search of the injured. Guided by visions, memories and hallucinations as much as by their incredible sense of smell, the ruined herd hears rumours of the Safe Place and the white bone that can Barbara Gowdy’s work has been celebrated as “dazzling and wholly original.” With The White Bone, she explores the territory of family and takes her talent for “audacious concept, inspired characterization, and poignant message” (Publishers Weekly) to remarkable new heights. Her genius lies in the combination of a universal theme with the creation of characters entirely true to their animal natures lead them there. The quest becomes one of endurance, sacrifice, and ultimately, transcendence, as the elephants struggle for their own lives and the continuation of their kind.