The Mourning Parade

Veterinarian Natalie DeAngelo lost everything the day her two young sons were killed in a school shooting. Desperate to find relief from her unspeakable loss, she volunteers for an elephant sanctuary in Thailand, but soon realizes she may be in over her head. Battling the memories that torment her day and night, Natalie must find a way to heal an angry, injured elephant named Sophie. Through love, acceptance, and gentle care, Natalie and Sophie heal together, finding new ways to enjoy life again.

I wrote The Mourning Parade as an homage to my mother, who was a great elephant lover, and because school shootings are far too prevalent in our culture. As a novelist, I feel that we can speak to the populace through the art of fiction, showing the very human response to the terrors we often must endure. I had visited an elephant sanctuary when on vacation in Thailand, meeting dozens of formerly-abused elephants, and I knew then that the gentle creatures often mirrored human responses to terror. One of those elephants became Sophie, the elephant I consider one of the antagonists in this moving story.