“West with Giraffes” Book Club Discussion on Zoom

Part adventure, part historical saga, and part coming-of-age love story, West with Giraffes explores what it means to be changed by the grace of animals, the kindness of strangers, the passing of time, and a story told before it’s too late.

A fantastic tale based on an actual event – two giraffes survive a hurricane and embark on a road trip across the United States from “one ocean to another”! Under the care of head keeper for the San Diego Zoo – Mr. Riley Jones, driver – Woody Nickel and aspiring photographer Augusta Red – both animals and humans learn about trust, loyalty and sacrifice forming a lifelong bond of love and friendship.

It was also a time when giraffes were a rare sight outside of Africa and little was even known about how to raise and care for them in captivity. After a time of quarantine, followed by a 2-week journey across the continent on a makeshift rig built on the bed of a flatbed truck, the giraffes were delivered to San Diego, one of the most progressive zoos in the world at the time, and directed by a woman, Belle Benchley, though she was not given the title until shortly before her retirement in 1953 because, who ever heard of a woman zoo director?

Lynda Rutledge, a lifelong animal lover, has had the joy of petting baby rhinos, snorkeling with endangered turtles, and strolling with a tower of giraffes in her eclectic freelance career writing nonfiction for well-known publications and organizations while winning awards and residencies for her fiction. Her debut novel, Faith Bass Darling’s Last Garage Sale, was the winner of the 2013 Writers’ League of Texas Book Award. It was adapted into the 2018 French film La dernière folie de Claire Darling starring Catherine Deneuve. Lynda, her husband, and their resident dog live outside Austin, Texas. For more information visit www.lyndarutledge.com.