The Elephant approaches

This novel bends us toward contemplating our own relationships and capabilities.

“Thomas Trofimuk‘s new novel is a poetic page turner that compels us to reflect on our own life narratives. This book is a beautiful bridge itself, full of oscillating tensions of loss and  love, memory and words, revenge and redemption. The ancient Czech Karluv Bridge narrating the novel is the best kind of trickster messenger and meeting place. An historical road across the river, guarded by amazing statutes, it is also a fine territory for clowns and choirs, dancers and lovers, children and assassins. It becomes the substrate for critical moments for all those characters in transition, including a wise, and damaged elephant, Sal, who escapes her confinement at the Prague Zoo.
 
The elephant is an essential grounding figure throughout this riveting story. Sal attends to perennial longings and imaginings, even as she encounters the characters’ actual behaviours, choices, and consequences. These weave and coalesce toward a startling culmination. We all need a Sal in our lives the way the characters do, to catch us, to protect us, to wake us up, and to re/member us. This novel bends us toward contemplating our own relationships and capabilities.
 
Forget apps and algorithms: Reading The Elephant on the Karluv Bridge is one of the best trips to Prague I know. As we get to know Sal, Marta and Vasha, Joseph and Mercy, Šárka and Ana, Tomáš, Isabel, our deepest questions about self and other in this difficult world, open and open, to rekindle hope and allow us understanding and belonging.”
— Dr. Leah Fowler, Professor Emerita at the University of Lethbridge

AUGUST 15, 2022 is the release date for the The Elephant on the Karluv Bridge. It’s Thursday morning in Edmonton, and the sky is a wash of grey and I am 16 floors in the air, in an office tower. Because it’s raining and no one is leaving the building, Starbucks is a mess — with 30 people in line at any given moment. Taking a break from the money work right now, and yes, I need more coffee, after last night’s strange hockey game (Oilers/Flames second round Stanley Cup playoffs). I do not know how many people visit this site, and I’m not sure I want to know, but at the very least, there is information here about the latest book, and some ramblings. I hope you are well and fine in the world. That’s all I have today. More soon.

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