Françoise never expected to find herself responsible for a herd of elephants with a troubled past. A chic Parisienne, her life changed forever when she fell in love with South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony. Together they founded a game reserve but after Lawrence’s death, Françoise faced the daunting responsibility of running Thula Thula without him. Poachers attacked their rhinos, their security team wouldn’t take orders from a woman and the authorities were threatening to cull their beloved elephant family. On top of that, the herd’s feisty new matriarch Frankie didn’t like her.

In this heart-warming and moving book, Françoise describes how she fought to protect the herd and to make her dream of building a wildlife rescue centre a reality. She found herself caring for a lost baby elephant who turned up at her house, and offering refuge to traumatized orphaned rhinos, and a hippo called Charlie who was scared of water. As she learned to trust herself, she discovered she’d had Frankie wrong all along . . .

Filled with extraordinary animals and the humans who dedicate their lives to saving them, An Elephant in My Kitchen is a captivating and gripping read.

About the author

Francoise Malby-Anthony is a French conservationist who, along with her late husband, Lawrence Anthony, known as ‘the elephant whisperer’, set up the Thula Thula Game Reserve in South Africa to care for 800 troubled elephants in 1999. Following her husband’s death in 2012, Francoise took over as the Matriarch of Thula Thula, helping to care for the injured elephants, and working to create a rescue centre for orphaned rhinos, and expanded the famous elephant reserve to include a baby hippo. Her life and struggle to keep Thula Thula alive and thriving is detailed in her book, The Elephant in My Kitchen.

An Elephant in My Kitchen is published by Pan MacMillan