This utterly charming and compelling novel set in Scotland and England in 1872 and based on a true story is built from the finest elements of classical story-telling. The arduous all-or-nothing physical quest of a zoo elephant’s 200 mile walk from Edinburgh to Manchester mirrors the personal journeys of its wonderfully realized characters, including the young, mute and lonely but resourceful pickpocket Danny, the bold and forthright but emotionally vulnerable Hetty, and the noble but damaged elephant Maharajah. There is danger, drama, mystery, transgression and redemption. This is a potential modern classic of children’s fiction. Set in 1872, it tells the story of the wager between rival menagerie owners James Jameson and Arthur Albright. When Jameson buys the African elephant Maharajah at a bankruptcy auction in Edinburgh his plan to transport the animal by train to his Belle Vue Zoological Gardens in Manchester hits a snag when the elephant destroys the freight carriage. Rashly, Jameson bets Albright that the elephant will walk to Manchester within seven days – the winner will take all of his rival’s menagerie of animals. During the excitement of the auction a young, mute pickpocket – known only to us as ‘Boy’ – is apprehended, losing all his stolen goods and knowing only too well the retribution that awaits him from is violent master Scatcherd. But at a moment of crisis he suddenly discovers some kind of affinity with the distressed elephant and before he knows what is happening he is enlisted to star in the marketing spectacle of the elephant walk, disguised as the Indian ‘Prince Dandip’. As the perilous journey proceeds, Boy meets and befriends the ebullient Hetty and her father, has his life saved by Maharajah, comes up against the sinister Crimple, and nurses a growing suspicion that their progress to Manchester is being followed very closely by someone who does not wish them well