Believe me, you’ll love Water for Elephants – with liberty horses, elephants, dogs, the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, and a plot that won’t let you quit.

I read Sara Gruen’s novel last summer when it first appeared in hardback. Today, it is on the New York Times bestseller list, has sold over 5 million copies and is available in paperback. There is also an audio CD that I am in the process of listening to and enjoying just as much as my first read.

The main character is 93-year-old Jacob Jankowski, who slips back in time to 1931, when a family tragedy causes him to leave Cornell Veterinary College just shy of graduation and join the Benzini Brothers as a roustabout. The author draws us into Jacob world with the circus train – and what a ride!

We meet an engaging cast of characters from Rosie the elephant who habitually pulls her stake out of the ground to go and steal lemonade to Barbara who entertains rubes in the cooch tent. But we aren’t spared gruesome details, dark secrets and tragedies along the way.

From the New York Times Book Review: “You’ll get lost in the tatty glamour of Gruen’s meticulously researched world, from spangled equestrian pageantry and the sleazy side show to an ill-fated night at a Chicago speak-easy.”