From the acclaimed author of _The Lost Pianos of Siberia_, comes a new journey, following four 19th century elephants marched from the East African coast towards Congo, to tell a heartbreaking story of folly and colonial greed.
Sophy Roberts is an award-winning British journalist, and a regular contributor to _FT Weekend_. Her critically acclaimed first book, _The Lost Pianos of Siberia_, was a Sunday Times Book of the Year in 2020, and went on to be published in eight more languages.
Sophy joins us for her second book_, A Training School for Elephants_, which has taken her on another unusual quest, threading lost history with modern reportage in India, Iraq, DRC, Tanzania and Belgium. Following an 1879 journey that four elephants from Pune made to Africa's Great Lakes, it is a reckoning with colonial ambitions gone berserk.
_In 1879, King Leopold II of Belgium launched an ambitious plan to plunder Africa's resources. The key to cracking open the continent, or so he thought, was its elephants - if only he could train them.
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_And so he commissioned the charismatic Irish adventurer Frederick Carter to ship four tamed Asian elephants from India to the East African coast, where they were marched inland towards Congo. The ultimate aim was to establish a training school for African elephants.
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_Following in the footsteps of the four elephants, Roberts pieces together the story of this long-forgotten expedition, in travels that take her to Belgium, Iraq, India, Tanzania and Congo. The storytelling brings to life a compelling cast of historic characters and modern voices, from ivory dealers to Catholic nuns, set against rich descriptions of the landscapes travelled.
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_Roberts digs deep into historic records to reckon with our broken relationship with animals, revealing an extraordinary - and enduring - story of colonial greed, ineptitude, hypocrisy and folly. _
'MASTERFULLY WEAVING ADVENTURE, INTRIGUE AND THE DARKER TRUTHS OF COLONIAL AMBITION INTO A STORY AS GRIPPING AS IT IS EYE-OPENING.' - Levison Wood, author of _Walking the Nile_
'DEEPLY RESEARCHED. BRINGS TO LIFE A BIZARRE AND LONG-FORGOTTEN STORY OF AFRICA WITH EMPATHY, INTRIGUING ENCOUNTERS AND MEMORABLE CHARACTERS, NOT LEAST THE ELEPHANTS THEMSELVES.' - Luke Pepera, author of _Motherland: A Journey through 500,000 Years of African Culture and Identity_
'SOPHY ROBERTS BRINGS HISTORY TO LIFE, TACKLING DIFFICULT, SENSITIVE SUBJECTS WITH CAREFUL, EXQUISITE PROSE. UNPUTDOWNABLE.' - Mary Harper, author of _Getting Somalia Wrong?_