The Roots of Heaven (novel)

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The Roots of Heaven
LesRacinesDuCiel.jpg
1956 French edition
Author Romain Gary
Original titleLes Racines du ciel
TranslatorJonathan Griffin
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
Set in French Equatorial Africa, 1955
Publisher Éditions Gallimard
Publication date
5 October 1956
Published in English
1958
Pages510
843.9

The Roots of Heaven (French : Les Racines du ciel) is a 1956 novel by the Lithuanian-born French writer and WW II aviator, Romain Gary (born Roman Kacew). It received the Prix Goncourt for fiction. It was translated into English in 1957. [1]

Contents

Synopsis

The book takes place in French Equatorial Africa. Morrel, a crusading environmentalist, labors to preserve elephants from extinction. He is assisted in the task by Minna, a nightclub hostess, and Forsythe, a disgraced British military officer in search of redemption. The story is a metaphor for the quest for salvation for all humanity.

Adaptation

John Huston directed and Darryl Zanuck produced a 1958 Hollywood film of the same title.

See also

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References

  1. "Le Palmarès". academie-goncourt.fr (in French). Académie Goncourt . Retrieved 2011-12-16.