The Spirit Walker — Paul Sullivan

All things are connected. The Earth to the Sun. The Moon to the Earth. Man to the land he walks on. All creatures to the wind, to the sky, to a blade of grass. Each bound by a spirit within. All connected to one hearing, one voice, one breathing. Through the wings of a butterfly a man can hear the earth in motion. He can hear, if he listens. If he learns to listen. So speaks Masuka, The African.

The Spirit Walker is a haunting novel of the feelings of man and beast, multiple perceptions and stunning imagery. It is told with flashbacks, and from each humans and an elephants point of view. The author deftly crafts a story about the web of nature and mans uneasy fit into it.

An old elephant, more than 50 years, and an honest seven tons, has survived a poachers bullet lodged close to his heart. The wound is slowly killing him. He recalls the family unit of his youth and its bloody slaughter. And the stench of man, one particular man. Now the old one is on the trail of the man who caused him such pain.

Teich is a sweaty, cigar-smoking poacher. He is unkempt, undignified and has no respect for any living thing. He fears only hippos. He carries a leg injury from the old elephant and is consumed with finding and finally killing him for revenge and his huge ivory tusks. Young Tebe and his wife Kopela, trapped by economics, work for Teich, but loathe him.

Masuku is a mysterious old man who manipulates the poachers physical and emotional weaknesses to bring him into Natures just pattern.

The Spirit Walker touches the readers mind and heart. It is a tribute to Nature and the African Elephant, the largest and most powerful land animal, which Sullivan portrays with incredible insight and beauty.