This includes giraffes, which so much of his growing up depended on. Now at the age of 105, Woody is in a VA center where he has become aware of the near extinction of so much wildlife because of the ever-increasing human population taking over their habitat. It was 1938, the Great Depression had taken hope from the nation and if that wasn't bad enough, the Dust Bowl era added to the despair. 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.When 17-year-old Woodrow Wilson Nickel buried the last of his family, he struck out from his Texas panhandle home to find his cousin in New York City. 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. Behind the wheel is the young Dust Bowl rowdy Woodrow. What follows is a twelve-day road trip in a custom truck to deliver Southern California’s first giraffes to the San Diego Zoo. They find it in two giraffes who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic. Hitler is threatening Europe, and world-weary Americans long for wonder. But when he learns giraffes are going extinct, he finds himself recalling the unforgettable experience he cannot take to his grave. Woodrow Wilson Nickel, age 105, feels his life ebbing away.
Nominated for Best Historical Fiction (2021) by GoodReads, West with Giraffes is an emotional, rousing novel inspired by the incredible true story of two giraffes who made headlines and won the hearts of Depression-era America.
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