Affinities

There is more than one way to fight ivory poaching...

Affinities follows the lives of Nix Grimms and Jaali Kamau, two very different people on either side of the elephant poaching crisis.

From an early age, Nix forms a bond with elephants, resulting in a lifelong passion for endangered species. Her obsession mobilises a group of likeminded individuals with diverse skill-sets. With the backing of an enigmatic patron, they use cutting age technology to attack the illegal ivory trade in radical new ways.

However, on the opposite side of the conflict, Jaali has grown up surrounded by poaching. Immersed in the trade, he struggles to reconcile his beliefs with his family’s wishes. As Nix and her friends bring the war on ivory to all fronts, Jaali rises through the ranks, slaughtering his way to riches even as his family fractures around him.

“I am in the business of saving elephants, Jaali Kamau. Will you help me?”

Inspiration

This book began as a conversation with my father about elephant poaching, and how it seemed nothing was changing the drastic situation. Despite the work of charities and governments and great amounts of money and effort pumped into the problem, elephants were – are – still being killed on an industrial scale. I wanted to see if it would be possible to tackle the problem by coming at it from a different angle, the ivory itself, and the latest, cutting-edge technology.

I do not pretend to be an expert on any part of this. I have never been to Africa and seen a wild elephant. I have never built a drone or 3D printer, or even a genetically modified anything. The book is about hope, thinking outside the box, and the idea that it is never too late to try. We walked on the moon 50 years ago with a computer the size of a calculator. The technology in this story exists, right now; it could work if effort was put into it.

Elephants are only getting closer to extinction. I hope this can actually make a difference. Either through the charities or by making people stop and think.

For every book sold, 50p will go to Tusk and WWF.

Status

Ready to publish!