Juxon is a fictional small country of about three million people, somewhere in Asia. The arrival of British settlers many decades before divided the country into the Conservative Cartons who want to hold onto their land and traditions, and the Liberal Frees, traders eager to extend their commerce. Since Juxon gained their independence over forty years ago, there has been frequent bouts of rioting and civil unrest.
The story starts on the morning after the recently elected Conservative President had been assassinated. Luther Wiggins and his family flee their luxurious home and very comfortable lifestyle.
Having escaped to a border town, tension mounts as friends and colleagues ‘disappear’
After a major crisis, they are forced to flee into neighbouring Belling. Here they live for more than a year in a refugee camp, enduring deprivations, anxieties and sorrow. Family and community support help each one to adapt to constantly changing circumstances.
Bendy Elephant provides a glimpse into the lives of people displaced from their homes and homelands. It shows that despite unimaginable hardships, life still goes on; families survive because they maintain habits that get them through each day. They also draw upon inner strength; they are helped to find that hitherto dormant inner strength and then share the learnings with others so that they too can deal with their hardships.
It is also a love story, a loving story, of people caring deeply for each other and the depths individuals will go through for a loved one. Readers are able to identify with the emotions and challenges Luther and his family face. What to do with fear, sadness, lack, anger? The solutions given to such challenges offer the reader diverse ways to deal with their own issues.
