Date: 23 October 2022
Location: Jay & Gina
I chose this book to share with you all because I was tired of reading (and seeing) murder mysteries. The setting in 1938 during the Great Depression, and its being based on a true story appealed. Of course I was impressed with and then forgot the beginning of the story based on Woodrow Wilson Nickel’s desire to write down his story about his giraffes as he learns that giraffes are going extinct. I became so caught up in the adventure that I totally forgot the book’s raison d’être – Woody’s desire to celebrate his adventure before life ebbs out of him.
Hitler is threatening Europe, and world-weary Americans long for wonder. They find it in two giraffes who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic. What follows is a twelve-day road trip – was it only 12 days?- in a custom truck to deliver Southern California’s first giraffes to the San Diego Zoo. Woody is behind the wheel, after having hid and slept in the giraffes’ pen/truck, really a boxcar suite filled with peat moss and burlap padding to protect Wild Girl and Wild Boy from the rigors of the road. Do remember this is 1938, long before interstate high ways. Can he even really drive? Originally the job was his for a few days until Earl, the Old Man could catch up with a new driver, having lost the first driver to drink. Woody makes it the entire way coast to coast as the driver, protector and lover of the giraffes – and the red haired girl. Did I mention the red haired girl?
Inspired by true events, the tale weaves real-life figures with fictional ones, including the world’s first female zoo director, a crusty Old Man with a past, a young female photographer with a secret, and assorted reprobates as spotty as the giraffes.
Hope you enjoyed the tale as much as I did!
— Gina