Rogue Elephants: A Novel Of The Peace Corps

Rogue Elephants, set in Niger, West Africa, follows the experiences of three Peace Corps volunteers. Contradictory impulses in Adam Goldstein drive the plot forward. His desire to help his village is often outmatched by his desire for self-gratification. For Ed Espada, the success of his service largely depends on keeping his gay identity under wraps. This isn't something with which Ed doesn't have difficulty-at least not until his oil executive father pays him a visit with an attractive Nigerian male attendant. Sheryl Johnson was raped one night in the Peace Corps training camp. After medevac to the states, she's discouraged from going back to Niger. Eventually she is allowed to pursue Peace Corps service. Once she returns to Niger she has a difficult time reconciling her past trauma with her desire for intimacy. The novel opens with a journalist investigating the apparent death of the volunteer Adam Goldstein. Villagers tell him that the volunteer's death was caused by jinn, or bush spirits.