An Elephant in My Kitchen: What the Herd Taught Me About Love, Courage, and Survival

June 10, 2019
In this enchanting sequel to the late conservationist Lawrence Anthony’s 2012 memoir, The Elephant Whisperer, his widow, Malby-Anthony, recounts how she carried on protecting elephants and rhinos after his death. She explains how such an unlikely couple—she was once a “city girl” and “Parisian through and through”; he, an adventurous and “passionate visionary”—met and, in 1998, founded the Thula Thula game preserve in his native South Africa. Animal lovers will be swept up in Malby-Anthony’s narrative early on, when she describes an elephant herd’s grief at Lawrence’s death. Previously involved chiefly in the preserve’s business affairs, Malby-Anthony begins caring for the animals after Lawrence’s death, and, among other things, must navigate the passage of power from one elephant matriarch to another and attempt to comfort a calf with a missing mother. Malby-Anthony shares lighthearted moments—a young hippo following a terrified local man “like a baby duck”; an attention-seeking elephant calf given to twerking—along with heartbreaking observations on the toll exacted by poachers. Contrasting human depredations to how elephants “coexist... with endless respect and love for each other,” Malby-Anthony offers a book of great inspiration and wide appeal to nature-loving readers. Agent: Jon Mitchell, Pan Mac.

September 1, 2019

In 1998, Malby-Anthony founded a game reserve in South Africa with her husband, conservationist Lawrence Anthony. When Lawrence died suddenly in 2012, the author was unexpectedly thrust into the role of managing the reserve and its employees. In this sequel to Anthony's The Elephant Whisperer, cowritten with Willemsen (Shepherd's Prayer), Malby-Anthony relates her struggles to maintain the safety of her animals and the mission of the reserve in the face of both vicious poachers and male employees who didn't want to take orders from a woman. She makes mistakes and celebrates successes, and eventually establishes an orphanage for baby rhinos, often traumatized shortly after birth when, before their eyes, their mothers are killed for their horns. Her love for the animals in her care permeates the narrative, and the previously hurt animals--in particular, the resident elephant herd--help her heal from her own trauma after Lawrence's death. VERDICT All animal lovers will enjoy this book, particularly those concerned for the many animals in danger of extreme suffering and possible extinction at the hands of poachers.--Rachel Owens, Daytona State Coll. Lib., FL

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2019
The sequel to The Elephant Whisperer (2009), which was written by Malby-Anthony's late husband, conservationist Lawrence Anthony. In 1998, the author and her husband founded Thula Thula, a game reserve in South Africa where they rescued a herd of elephants. But when Lawrence died unexpectedly, Malby-Anthony was faced with the formidable task of continuing their work alone, with a limited ability to speak the native language in a land where few women hold positions of authority. In this endearing and inspirational follow-up to The Elephant Whisperer--written with the assistance of Willemsen (Shepherd's Prayer, 2012), who grew up in South Africa--Malby-Anthony shares how she not only managed to preserve their elephant herd, but went on to Phase 2 of their dream: opening a nursery for orphaned baby elephants, a hippo who didn't like water, and rhinos whose mothers had been killed for their horns. The author shares multiple stories about her daunting mission to bring these orphaned animals back from the brink of death due to starvation, dehydration, and simple fear. She discusses the disgusting nature of poaching for horns ("they turned her beautiful face into a gruesome mess of blood and flesh, and she was alive when they did it....They butchered her while she was a breathing, living, feeling rhino"), which command incredible prices on the black market, and the extreme measures she takes in order to protect the animals in her care. Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, the game reserve was still brutally attacked. The common threads that run throughout her story are love and respect for these wild animals and the heartwarming nature of the animal families that embrace each other as well as Malby-Anthony and her dogs. The writing is full of vivid descriptions that place readers in the middle of the action, making the book difficult to put down. An engrossing eye-opener on the fragility of South Africa's fauna.

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October 15, 2019
Author Malby-Anthony and husband Lawrence Anthony started the game reserve Thula Thula in South Africa, as chronicled in Anthony's The Elephant Whisperer (2009). Lawrence's sudden death in 2012 threw Fran�oise into the deep end, as Anthony had always managed the animals and their safety while Fran�oise handled finances and guest relations. This lovely sequel follows Fran�oise as she works through her grief and learns the ways of the elephant and of the reserve's other animals and the secrets of the bush. Weathering her first crisis, a poaching attempt on a rhino, made her realize that protecting Thula Thula was now her responsibility. The constant threat of poachers weaves throughout the narrative, leading to the reserve opening a rehabilitation center for rescued orphan rhinos and elephants. Stories of caring for the infants, babies big enough to knock their caregivers down, entwine with the everyday running of the game and encounters with its elephant herd. The story of recovery from a devastating poacher attack against the orphanage highlights Fran�oise's determination to ensure that Thula Thula succeeds.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)