Hunting Elephants — James Roy

Sometimes, when you search for the truth, you find you're just . . . Hunting Elephants . Harry reads books, he asks questions; he's a naturally curious young man. So when he and his parents head out to the country for Great-uncle Frank's fourth wedding, he prepares himself. He learns what he can before they leave. After all, he doesn't want to look stupid when Frank's time in the Vietnam War comes up in conversation. If it comes up. But perhaps Harry has more to worry about than an old man's war stories. Is there a crazed gunman in the bush? And what's being kept hidden in the old caravan behind Frank's house? Besides, Harry has scars and memories and guilt of his own to deal with, which won't be easy while ever he's surrounded by truths that sound like lies, and lies that might just be true. Like Captain Mack and Billy Mack's War , this novel bravely takes the young reader into the real world, where the assumptions we make can sometimes be dead wrong, and where the things we refuse to talk about might be bigger than we ever imagined.