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July 5, 2021
S. Kirk Walsh's Playlist for Her Novel "The Elephant of Belfast"
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Roxane Gay, and many others.
S. Kirk Walsh's debut novel The Elephant of Belfast is a compelling exploration of daily life in Belfast during World War II.
The New Yorker wrote of the book:
"Based on real events, this engrossing novel takes place a year into the Second World War. A three-year-old elephant named Violet arrives at Belfast’s Bellevue Zoo, where Hettie Quin, a young zookeeper mourning the recent death of a sister, finds purpose and solace in caring for her . . . The novel vividly evokes the speed with which war makes the commonplace surreal, as Hettie and Violet become fugitives in a ruined city."
In her words, here is S. Kirk Walsh's Book Notes music playlist for her debut novel The Elephant of Belfast:
My debut novel, The Elephant of Belfast, follows a twenty-year-old zookeeper named Hettie Quin and her three-year-old elephant charge Violet during the months and days leading up to the Luftwaffe bombings of Belfast in 1941. I first heard about the life story of Denise Austin (who inspired my protagonist) on the radio in 2009, and then I traveled to Belfast in the summer of 2013 to research the novel. About seven years and sixteen drafts later, my novel was published by Counterpoint Press and Hodder/Hachette (UK and the Commonwealth, with a slightly different title, The Zookeeper of Belfast). Given the loss and devastation of the story, I always knew music was going to play a significant role in the narrative as a way to introduce levity and joy during unexpected moments. Below, you’ll find some of the songs that make appearances in The Elephant of Belfast as well as a handful of songs from artists from Northern Ireland and Ireland who inspired me along the way.
1) “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Thing)" by Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington
One of my characters, Eliza Crowley, dances to this jazz standard while it plays from a radio in the zoo’s canteen early in the novel. Eliza is one of the only other young women who works at the Bellevue Zoo and provides something of a contrast to Hettie’s prescribed ways of moving through the world.
2) “Anything Goes” by Ella Fitzgerald
Some of my favorite scenes in the novel take place in Floral Hall, a dance hall that still stands on the grounds of the Belfast Zoo, but the structure is now derelict and abandoned. Hettie dances with her fellow zookeeper, Ferris Poole, to this tune sung by a fictional singer named Stella Holliday. This Cole Porter song was popular with the big bands and on the dance floors, both in the States and the United Kingdom.
3) “Put Your Arms Around Me Honey” by Judy Garland
This song appears a little later in the same chapter set in Floral Hall. This time, Hettie is dancing with another potential suitor named Samuel Greene. Once again, the song is performed by Stella Holliday, with her voice animating an intimacy between the two characters. The standard was first written for the Broadway show titled Madame Sherry in 1910 and became a popular number for big bands during World War II.
4) “I’ll Be Seeing You” by Billie Holiday
This tune is also sang by Stella Holliday in Floral Hall, but during the night of Easter Tuesday when the Luftwaffe attacked the city for five consecutive hours, dropping 678 bombs at the rate of two per minute. An Irish singer named Delia Murphy did, in fact, sing throughout the night, but her performance occurred on the stage of Ulster Hall, which is located in the downtown area of Belfast. I moved this dramatic scene to Floral Hall, so Hettie could experience this act of bravery and beauty on the evening of the bombings.
5) “This Little Light of Mine” by Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band
This gospel song is sung by a group of orphan children and nuns at a Catholic convent, where the children are being given shelter after the bombings until they are transferred to new schools further north. I was inspired to include this song in the novel after our visit to Belfast in 2013: As it turns out, Bruce Springsteen was performing at King’s Hall, a short walking distance where my husband and I were staying. Every other guest at our bed and breakfast was attending consecutive shows of Bruce, and were bewildered that we hadn’t secured tickets ourselves. Instead of attending the concert, my husband and I sat on one of the nearby lawns, where we could hear Bruce and his band with a clarity that was surprising. As the sun set, we heard the roar of the fervent crowd and Bruce and his band broke into “This Little Light of Mine” and then performed selections from Nebraska.
6) “Dear Old Donegal” by Patrick Grant
This song isn’t featured in The Elephant of Belfast, but it was a favorite Irish tune that our friend Dan used to sing on St. Patrick’s Day and other occasions. Dan was my husband’s best friend in Manhattan (our home before moving to Texas), and he died of AIDS in 2004. He was a former opera singer and had a brilliant voice. It was always a pleasure to hear him sing—whether it was “Ave Maria” or rollicking Irish songs. During many of the scenes of singing in the novel, I certainly had Dan in mind, because his song fortified me in many ways over the years, even after he had died.
7) “Star of the County Down” by Van Morrison and The Chieftains
The Chieftains are one of my favorite Irish bands, long before I knew I was going to write a historical novel set in Northern Ireland. The lyrics of the song tell the story of an infatuation, an emotional state that Hettie experiences several times herself before the end of the novel.
8) “Domino” by Van Morrison
Van Morrison was born and raised in Belfast. His father was a shipyard electrician and his mother was a singer and a tap dancer in her youth (and her first name was Violet!). I’ve been listening to his music ever since I was a teenager. Nowadays, I sometimes listened to his songs when I was writing. Indeed, I’m one of those writers who can listen to music and write. It helps me to drop into a certain level of concentration and hearing Van Morrison’s familiar voice often helps me to settle into the writing process.
9) “Tupelo, Honey” by Van Morrison
For my elephant-related research, I visited a family of Asian elephants at the Houston Zoo several times in late 2013. At that time, there were two three-year-old elephants (the same age as the elephant featured in my novel). The zookeepers invited me to wash one of the elephants, who was named Tupelo (“Tup” for short) after this song by Van Morrison. It was an invaluable experience, being around Tupelo and the other elephants in order to bring the character of Violet alive.
10) “Orinoco Flow” by Enya
Enya is another Irish musician who I’ve listened to long before I knew that I would be writing a novel in Northern Ireland. She was born in Gweedore in County Donegal, which is still an Irish-speaking area of the country. Her first name is also pronounced Eithne (the same name as one of the Belfast Blitz survivors who I interviewed for my novel). My college roommates used to listen to her songs when we were still in school, and then later, when I was working on The Elephant of Belfast, I discovered her music again. Though Enya is considered a New Age bestselling singer of the Eighties, I find her music to be soothing and transporting.
S. Kirk Walsh lives in Austin, Texas, and her work has been widely published in the New York Times Book Review, Longreads, StoryQuarterly, Electric Literature, and other publications. The Elephant of Belfast is her first novel. Find out more at SKirkWalsh.com.
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