Zarafa

Dates Covered: 1826
ISBN: 0802713394
HH Rating:

Our Take

Less a history book than a story book, Michael Allin's Zarafa is the enchanting account of a giraffe's journey from Africa to Paris in the late nineteenth century. The gentle Zarafa, a surprisingly short female giraffe, and her handlers were very real symbols of a faraway world. A gift from the most powerful man in Africa to the King of France, Zarafa soon became the most popular phenomenon in France since, well, probably that nasty revolution of theirs. Allin's superb recreation of the people's sense of amazement at this coming together of heretofore alien worlds is the true value of this book.

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