The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and ultimately, it was their only hope for survival. And Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus the only problem was, Rosie didn't have an act-in fact, she couldn't even follow instructions. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak. Jacob was there because his luck had run out-orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive "ship of fools." It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind.
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