This book was like a bad movie that you don't walk out of because you want it to get better, you hope that it will make sense in the end. C'mon, I can suspend my disbelief with the best in order to enjoy a good story. It was obviously a work of fiction-- badly written fiction. The author didn't research basic facts about Asian elephants or Indian culture. The eroticism was clumsy and gratuitous. The spiritual references were ridiculous if not insulting. A fifth grader could have proofread it better: there are numerous mispellings/typos and grammatical mistakes. Helfer apparently wasn't assigned an editor at all as evidenced by the inconsistencies. Why would anyone sail from Germany to New York by way of India? How do you ship an elephant from India to New York on the deck of a small sailing vessel? Fortunately, I bought the book used, but I wouldn't recommend it if someone gave it to you!