Fiction Pick of the Week: The Elephant's Journey

The Elephant’s Journey  by Jose Saramago
Published in Portuguese in 2008; Published in English in 2010

This is a seemingly simple story of Solomon, an elephant, and his mahout, Subhro. It is 1551 and King Joao III of Portugal has decided to present to Archduke Maximilian of Austria a most remarkable wedding present: Solomon, his elephant. The departure, journey and arrival in Vienna is really an extraordinary commentary on royalty of the day, the Reformation, the Council of Trent and civil war, but also on friendship. When the entourage has been delivered to the Austrian military, which will conduct them passage to Austria, not only the names of Solomon and Subhro are changed. The author based his story on a true story of the journey of an elephant from Lisbon to Vienna. Saramago was awarded the Novel Prize for Literature in 1998.