Water for Elephants cover art

Water for Elephants

Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Water for Elephants

By: Sara Gruen
Narrated by: David LeDoux, John Randolph Jones, Various
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Only £0.99 a month for the first 3 months. Pay £0.99 for the first 3 months, and £8.99/month thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Start my membership

About this listen

Jacob Jankowski reflects back on his wild and wondrous days with a circus. In the Depression era, Jacob, finding himself parentless and penniless, joins the Benzini Brothers' "Most Spectacular Show on Earth". There he meets the freaks, grifters, and misfits that populate this world: Marlena, beautiful star of the equestrian act; August, her charismatic but twisted husband (and the circus' animal trainer); and Rosie, the seemingly untrainable elephant Jacob cares for.

©2006 Sara Gruen (P)2006 HighBridge Company
Fiction Historical Fiction Women's Fiction Heartfelt Tear-jerking Elephant Feel-Good

Listeners also enjoyed...

Light in August cover art
The Whip: Inspired by the story of Charley Parkhurst cover art
The Hunger and Other Stories cover art
The Penelopiad cover art
The Time Traveler's Wife cover art
A Nail Through The Heart cover art
The Kite Runner cover art
The Alice Network cover art
Timebound cover art
The Final Confession of Mabel Stark cover art
The Elegance of the Hedgehog cover art
Midnight Cowboy cover art
West with Giraffes cover art

Critic reviews

"This marvelously exciting and satisfying book has been given the engaging audio production it deserves." ( Audiofile)
" Water for Elephants is fun, sweet and thrilling and will pull you into the mysterious life of the circus so far that you won't want to leave." ( Guardian)
All stars
Most relevant
this made a nice change from the novels I usually read. It was a good story, well told. I cared about the characters which, for me is essential.

loved it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Filled with heart warming storytelling and excitement. A real good story and we’ll narrated. My second listen.

Fantastic! no wonder they made a movie.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I had always heard this was a great book. Everything was amazing. I particularly loved the 90/93 year olds narration and character.

10/10

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

A beautifully poignant story of a life well lived! Excellently narrated, especially the part of old Jacob.

Water for Elephanfs!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I don’t usually write reviews but I enjoyed this story so much! It is very different to other stories that I have listened to. I found the story exciting, gripping and very memorable. The two narrators told the story very well. I really cared about all the characters, especially Rosie. Such a good ending too. I would absolutely recommend this story to anyone. 10 out of 10!

Beautiful, amazing story!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews