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The Perfect Pair #1
The Perfect Pair
This is the second book in the dolphin trilogy The Perfect Pair, the factionalised memoir of Europe's top 1970s dolphin trainer. It reveals the plight of the captive dolphin and gives an insight into the relationship between one particular trainer and his dolphins, whisking the reader on a journey deep into the dolphin psyche. Sometimes heart-breaking, sometimes funny - always compelling. Within these pages dwells a graphic story of the plight of the commercial dolphin. However, there are also heart-warming tales of the trainers and handlers who work with them. The Perfect Pair: The Mirror Cracks is the continuation of The Perfect Pair: The Enchanted Mirror (Matador, 2012) - now a core text for the BA(Hons) English and Creative Writing Course at The University of Salford. It is an immensely personal account of a young boy's first love - a special love that takes him on a mystical journey deep into the world of the dolphin, effectively casting him into a reality that constantly questions man's overall appraisal of these very special people of the sea. It tells of a mind connection - a psychic bond so strong that it enables the boy and his dolphins to become Europe's top performing team...the best of the best. No one reading this book will ever view a dolphin in the same light again.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2012
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20 people want to read
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June 29, 2018
Book Review: The Perfect Pair, Book I: The Enchanted Mirror. By David C. Holroyd and Tracy J. Holroyd. 2012, Matador Press.
Being a dolphin trainer looks like a glamorous job, as Ric O’Barry could tell you. He trained dolphins for the mid-1960’s TV show Flipper, which was dubbed into dozens of languages and became a world-wide hit. Rightly or wrongly, O’Barry now blames himself for the current plague of dolphin exploitation, including the proliferation of swim-with-dolphin facilities and oceanariums that are pillaging wild populations.
In reality, dolphin-training is a difficult, demanding, often-dangerous job that is guaranteed to break your heart. The “why” becomes obvious in The Enchanted Mirror, the first book in a trilogy chronicling the career of one “David Capello,” the stage name of a dolphin trainer who worked for an unnamed entertainment company in 1970’s England.
Is the book fiction or a memoir? I’m not quite clear. The foreword writer describes it as “a true story,” but co-author Tracy Holroyd, who wrote it with her brother David, told me they fictionalized Capello’s story for legal reasons (like I did with my human-dolphin love novel Wet Goddess). Does it matter? No, because his story reflects what former trainers like O’Barry and SeaWorld’s John Hargrove have revealed about the job.
We open with Capello in the middle of a performance with Duchess and Herb’e, his “perfect pair,” two dolphins who can synchronize their moves flawlessly, and we find that he’s directing them by… thinking? Flashback to Capello, a callow 17-year-old, hearing his mom suggest he apply as an assistant at a dolphin show. Although disinterested, he somehow gets the job and goes to work at a training facility, improbably located in a grimy coal-mining town.
The first reality Capello encounters is unwanted animals: a pair of messy penguins and a dangerous sea lion. He gets so friendly with the pinniped that, after a drunken binge, he ends up sleeping in its cage! When confronted by an irate local whose parking space he’s taken, Capello experiences weirdness: the sea lion comes to his defense. “For the oddest moment,” he relates, “it seemed as though I were looking in a mirror; then I felt all my aggression seeping away and saw it ¬– actually saw it – filling up those big green eyes.”
This is the first time he experiences what he calls a "connection" with other species, and when the first pair of dolphins show up for training, the feeling is amplified.
“Aren’t you beautiful? I thought. I reached out and, as my hand made contact with this strangely different creature of the sea, my nervy excitement began to dissipate, leaving in its wake a sense of peace and calm. I felt something: a connection of some kind that made me feel light-headed. It was as if she was stealing my strength, leaving me feeling weak and disoriented, yet I couldn’t break free of her spell. I was totally and utterly captivated.
“This animal was giving off some serious vibes.”
Here, Capello joins a very select group of humans, including me, O’Barry, New Zealand trainer Frank Robson, former U.S. Navy scientist Michael Greenwood and a few others who claim to have been touched by the dolphins in a remarkable way: mentally. But let us leave this improbability momentarily to continue Capello’s story.
By this point all the major forces are in play which will, I suspect, sustain the story through three volumes. Capello rapidly becomes very possessive of Duchess and Herb’e, thinking of them as his dolphins, when in reality they belong to the megalithic company that issues his paychecks. The fact that other trainers can’t get them to perform makes no difference. Young, hard-working and sometimes just dumb lucky, Capello soon finds himself running the dolphin training operation and confronting all the problems which the commoditization and exploitation of sentient non-human species creates.
When the “perfect pair” aren’t up to performing eight shows on holidays, a second team of dolphins must be imported, one of whom turns out to have been traumatized in capture. Capello describes in agonizing detail the enormous stress of capturing her twice a day and trying to force-feed her. When the filtration system can’t handle the amount of waste in the water, he risks the wrath of management by dumping the tank and refilling it. When the show finally opens to the public, a woman trainer steals the limelight by disrobing for the cameras of the Fleet Street tabloids… and so on.
During all this time, Capello also recounts the colorful and sometimes creepy people he roomed with. He recalls his work as a trainer so clearly and vividly that I wonder if he kept a private journal, or had copies of the individual dolphins’ logbooks to work from.
Capello ends The Enchanted Mirror with himself ascendant, Duchess and Herb’e working as the perfect pair and a second duo, including one unfortunate dolphin blinded in shipping, as back-up performers. He feels on top of the world until he learns that a third pair of dolphins are being sent to him for training... a couple ominously known as Bonnie and Clyde.
Stand by for Vol. II: The Mirror Cracks.
Fiction it may (or may not) be, The Perfect Pair is one of the best and most authentic books I’ve ever read about the realities of dolphin training. The Holroyd siblings manage to convey all the aspects of the job, be they boring, funny, horrifying or wonderful. Although their writing is very good, I had a couple of minor quibbles. While most of the story is told in past tense it occasionally shifts into present tense, Capello talking to himself during the more extreme chapters. Tracy Holroyd described this as a deliberate technique to engage the reader, but I found it disconcerting. Also, a disturbing scene of some poltergeist-like nocturnal activity in the oceanarium raises questions that aren’t answered in this volume.
Historically, tales involving human-dolphin interaction don’t end well for the dolphins. This goes all the way back to Pliny the Elder, who in the 1st Century CE wrote in amazement of a dolphin who visited the now-Tunisian city of Hippo Diarrhytus. Alas, the creature’s friendly nature attracted many wealthy visitors. “At last, the vexations that were caused them by having to entertain so many influential men who came to see this sight, compelled the people of Hippo to put the animal to death,” Pliny wrote. So, while I have a dark feeling about how the Holroyds’ telling of Capello’s tale will end, fascination and professional interest compel me to continue. Ignorance is not bliss, particularly when you’ve gotten as close to one of these creatures as I have.
And what about that mysterious feeling of “connection” that Capello describes, the ability to train and direct dolphins with his mind? This is one of those things that gets discussed in back rooms at marine mammal conferences. A lot of trainers report it; I know, because I’ve spoken to some. Scientists generally dismiss telepathy and other such paranormal phenomena as preposterous notions, the product of superstition or delusions. Well, I may have been stoned when I was communicating with my dolphin, Dolly, but I’m not stupid. I doubted the experiences at the time and thought I was literally going crazy later on, but it turns out I wasn’t: I’m not the only one who’s had a dolphin get into his mind.
I can’t begin to explain how they do it, but consider this: We humans have been in our present form on Earth, Homo sapiens, for about 150,000 years. That’s not even a blink in time. Dolphins, on the other hand, have been in their present form for at least 12 million years, or 80 times longer than we have. They not only have a vast history of survival, but they’ve been self-aware all that time and able to explore their consciousness. Isn’t it possible they’ve figured out some things about mind and the nature of reality that we haven’t?
The Perfect Pair will give you one man’s insight into their world as he encountered it, but if you find yourself buying the whole trilogy, don’t say I didn’t warn you!
(Malcolm J. Brenner is the author of the 2010 novel Wet Goddess: Recollections of a Dolphin Lover and two other books. He lives in Punta Gorda, Fla.)
Being a dolphin trainer looks like a glamorous job, as Ric O’Barry could tell you. He trained dolphins for the mid-1960’s TV show Flipper, which was dubbed into dozens of languages and became a world-wide hit. Rightly or wrongly, O’Barry now blames himself for the current plague of dolphin exploitation, including the proliferation of swim-with-dolphin facilities and oceanariums that are pillaging wild populations.
In reality, dolphin-training is a difficult, demanding, often-dangerous job that is guaranteed to break your heart. The “why” becomes obvious in The Enchanted Mirror, the first book in a trilogy chronicling the career of one “David Capello,” the stage name of a dolphin trainer who worked for an unnamed entertainment company in 1970’s England.
Is the book fiction or a memoir? I’m not quite clear. The foreword writer describes it as “a true story,” but co-author Tracy Holroyd, who wrote it with her brother David, told me they fictionalized Capello’s story for legal reasons (like I did with my human-dolphin love novel Wet Goddess). Does it matter? No, because his story reflects what former trainers like O’Barry and SeaWorld’s John Hargrove have revealed about the job.
We open with Capello in the middle of a performance with Duchess and Herb’e, his “perfect pair,” two dolphins who can synchronize their moves flawlessly, and we find that he’s directing them by… thinking? Flashback to Capello, a callow 17-year-old, hearing his mom suggest he apply as an assistant at a dolphin show. Although disinterested, he somehow gets the job and goes to work at a training facility, improbably located in a grimy coal-mining town.
The first reality Capello encounters is unwanted animals: a pair of messy penguins and a dangerous sea lion. He gets so friendly with the pinniped that, after a drunken binge, he ends up sleeping in its cage! When confronted by an irate local whose parking space he’s taken, Capello experiences weirdness: the sea lion comes to his defense. “For the oddest moment,” he relates, “it seemed as though I were looking in a mirror; then I felt all my aggression seeping away and saw it ¬– actually saw it – filling up those big green eyes.”
This is the first time he experiences what he calls a "connection" with other species, and when the first pair of dolphins show up for training, the feeling is amplified.
“Aren’t you beautiful? I thought. I reached out and, as my hand made contact with this strangely different creature of the sea, my nervy excitement began to dissipate, leaving in its wake a sense of peace and calm. I felt something: a connection of some kind that made me feel light-headed. It was as if she was stealing my strength, leaving me feeling weak and disoriented, yet I couldn’t break free of her spell. I was totally and utterly captivated.
“This animal was giving off some serious vibes.”
Here, Capello joins a very select group of humans, including me, O’Barry, New Zealand trainer Frank Robson, former U.S. Navy scientist Michael Greenwood and a few others who claim to have been touched by the dolphins in a remarkable way: mentally. But let us leave this improbability momentarily to continue Capello’s story.
By this point all the major forces are in play which will, I suspect, sustain the story through three volumes. Capello rapidly becomes very possessive of Duchess and Herb’e, thinking of them as his dolphins, when in reality they belong to the megalithic company that issues his paychecks. The fact that other trainers can’t get them to perform makes no difference. Young, hard-working and sometimes just dumb lucky, Capello soon finds himself running the dolphin training operation and confronting all the problems which the commoditization and exploitation of sentient non-human species creates.
When the “perfect pair” aren’t up to performing eight shows on holidays, a second team of dolphins must be imported, one of whom turns out to have been traumatized in capture. Capello describes in agonizing detail the enormous stress of capturing her twice a day and trying to force-feed her. When the filtration system can’t handle the amount of waste in the water, he risks the wrath of management by dumping the tank and refilling it. When the show finally opens to the public, a woman trainer steals the limelight by disrobing for the cameras of the Fleet Street tabloids… and so on.
During all this time, Capello also recounts the colorful and sometimes creepy people he roomed with. He recalls his work as a trainer so clearly and vividly that I wonder if he kept a private journal, or had copies of the individual dolphins’ logbooks to work from.
Capello ends The Enchanted Mirror with himself ascendant, Duchess and Herb’e working as the perfect pair and a second duo, including one unfortunate dolphin blinded in shipping, as back-up performers. He feels on top of the world until he learns that a third pair of dolphins are being sent to him for training... a couple ominously known as Bonnie and Clyde.
Stand by for Vol. II: The Mirror Cracks.
Fiction it may (or may not) be, The Perfect Pair is one of the best and most authentic books I’ve ever read about the realities of dolphin training. The Holroyd siblings manage to convey all the aspects of the job, be they boring, funny, horrifying or wonderful. Although their writing is very good, I had a couple of minor quibbles. While most of the story is told in past tense it occasionally shifts into present tense, Capello talking to himself during the more extreme chapters. Tracy Holroyd described this as a deliberate technique to engage the reader, but I found it disconcerting. Also, a disturbing scene of some poltergeist-like nocturnal activity in the oceanarium raises questions that aren’t answered in this volume.
Historically, tales involving human-dolphin interaction don’t end well for the dolphins. This goes all the way back to Pliny the Elder, who in the 1st Century CE wrote in amazement of a dolphin who visited the now-Tunisian city of Hippo Diarrhytus. Alas, the creature’s friendly nature attracted many wealthy visitors. “At last, the vexations that were caused them by having to entertain so many influential men who came to see this sight, compelled the people of Hippo to put the animal to death,” Pliny wrote. So, while I have a dark feeling about how the Holroyds’ telling of Capello’s tale will end, fascination and professional interest compel me to continue. Ignorance is not bliss, particularly when you’ve gotten as close to one of these creatures as I have.
And what about that mysterious feeling of “connection” that Capello describes, the ability to train and direct dolphins with his mind? This is one of those things that gets discussed in back rooms at marine mammal conferences. A lot of trainers report it; I know, because I’ve spoken to some. Scientists generally dismiss telepathy and other such paranormal phenomena as preposterous notions, the product of superstition or delusions. Well, I may have been stoned when I was communicating with my dolphin, Dolly, but I’m not stupid. I doubted the experiences at the time and thought I was literally going crazy later on, but it turns out I wasn’t: I’m not the only one who’s had a dolphin get into his mind.
I can’t begin to explain how they do it, but consider this: We humans have been in our present form on Earth, Homo sapiens, for about 150,000 years. That’s not even a blink in time. Dolphins, on the other hand, have been in their present form for at least 12 million years, or 80 times longer than we have. They not only have a vast history of survival, but they’ve been self-aware all that time and able to explore their consciousness. Isn’t it possible they’ve figured out some things about mind and the nature of reality that we haven’t?
The Perfect Pair will give you one man’s insight into their world as he encountered it, but if you find yourself buying the whole trilogy, don’t say I didn’t warn you!
(Malcolm J. Brenner is the author of the 2010 novel Wet Goddess: Recollections of a Dolphin Lover and two other books. He lives in Punta Gorda, Fla.)
July 4, 2014
This book was recently entered and was a bronze winner in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. This is what our readers thought:
TITLE
The Perfect Pair, The Enchanted Mirror
AUTHORS
David C Holroyd, Tracy J Holroyd
FEEDBACK
COVER 8/10
Generally, the readers liked the cover of the book. They felt that the picture on the front and back could have been incorporated better into the text but, apart, from that, they liked the easy-to-read font and the excellent comments on the back cover. One reader put in her feedback, ‘Black is always a very dangerous colour to have on a book cover. It suggest many things: horror, darkness, foreboding; oddly, this book is not any of them. Why, I wonder, pick black.’
CONTENT 10/10
All of the readers loved this book. They thought it was wonderfully written and, often, very moving. They liked the way the authors developed the bond between the young boy and the dolphins and how they educated the readers not only on dolphins and how they behave but also the inner workings of the industry and the treatment of dolphins in captivity. ‘This book would be of interest to lots of different readers: those with an interest in dolphins, those with an interest in the commercial exploitation of these animals, and those who just want to enjoy a good story.’
EDITING 10/10
The readers discovered no punctuation, spelling or grammatical errors. Oh, apart from p134, extra space before the word “Gone.” One reader put in his feedback, ‘This is a very well edited book, not only the grammar and punctuation but also the pacing. I turned every page knowing the next would keep me highly entertained, all the way to the satisfying ending. I understand this is the first part of a trilogy. I look forward to reading the next two.’
STYLE 10/10
The readers thought the authors' style of writing was very accessible. They describe setting and characters well and they work well with speech. One reader put, ‘The writers handled the developing relationship between the two dolphins and the boy very well. I could really feel the love growing in the boy for the two dolphins in his care.’ Another reader put, ‘What I liked most about this book was the pacing. It moved along with speed and grace. A lot of new authors find this difficult to do. The Holroyds don’t.’
‘A fascinating, in depth look at the world of dolphins in captivity. Highly recommended.' The Wishing Shelf Awards
STATS
Of the 26 readers:
17 liked the cover; 9 suggested working a little with the illustrations. Black and white on such a fascinating and colourful tale just felt wrong to them.
20 of the readers thought the best part of this book was the developing relationship between the dolphins and the boy.
4 thought the best part was the way the authors depicted the often ‘cruel’ methods of keeping dolphins in captivity.
26 of the reader want to read the next two in the trilogy.
TITLE
The Perfect Pair, The Enchanted Mirror
AUTHORS
David C Holroyd, Tracy J Holroyd
FEEDBACK
COVER 8/10
Generally, the readers liked the cover of the book. They felt that the picture on the front and back could have been incorporated better into the text but, apart, from that, they liked the easy-to-read font and the excellent comments on the back cover. One reader put in her feedback, ‘Black is always a very dangerous colour to have on a book cover. It suggest many things: horror, darkness, foreboding; oddly, this book is not any of them. Why, I wonder, pick black.’
CONTENT 10/10
All of the readers loved this book. They thought it was wonderfully written and, often, very moving. They liked the way the authors developed the bond between the young boy and the dolphins and how they educated the readers not only on dolphins and how they behave but also the inner workings of the industry and the treatment of dolphins in captivity. ‘This book would be of interest to lots of different readers: those with an interest in dolphins, those with an interest in the commercial exploitation of these animals, and those who just want to enjoy a good story.’
EDITING 10/10
The readers discovered no punctuation, spelling or grammatical errors. Oh, apart from p134, extra space before the word “Gone.” One reader put in his feedback, ‘This is a very well edited book, not only the grammar and punctuation but also the pacing. I turned every page knowing the next would keep me highly entertained, all the way to the satisfying ending. I understand this is the first part of a trilogy. I look forward to reading the next two.’
STYLE 10/10
The readers thought the authors' style of writing was very accessible. They describe setting and characters well and they work well with speech. One reader put, ‘The writers handled the developing relationship between the two dolphins and the boy very well. I could really feel the love growing in the boy for the two dolphins in his care.’ Another reader put, ‘What I liked most about this book was the pacing. It moved along with speed and grace. A lot of new authors find this difficult to do. The Holroyds don’t.’
‘A fascinating, in depth look at the world of dolphins in captivity. Highly recommended.' The Wishing Shelf Awards
STATS
Of the 26 readers:
17 liked the cover; 9 suggested working a little with the illustrations. Black and white on such a fascinating and colourful tale just felt wrong to them.
20 of the readers thought the best part of this book was the developing relationship between the dolphins and the boy.
4 thought the best part was the way the authors depicted the often ‘cruel’ methods of keeping dolphins in captivity.
26 of the reader want to read the next two in the trilogy.
February 28, 2021
The Perfect Pair: The Enchanted Mirror is the first book in The Perfect Pair Dolphin Trilogy. It is the graphic tale of commercial dolphins and the immensely personal account of a young boy's first love - a special love that takes him on a mystical journey deep into the world of the dolphin, effectively casting him into a reality that constantly questions man's overall appraisal of these very special people of the sea. It tells of a mind connection - a psychic bond so strong that it enables the boy and his charges to become Europe's top performing team...The best of the best. Two dolphins famed for working in absolute unison, eventually leading them into achieving the much-revered full somersault routine - a shadow ballet of exquisite grace and beauty. A moving and emotional story, The Perfect Pair: The Enchanted Mirror will appeal to adults with an interest in dolphins and the people who work with them.
It has been made a core text for the University of Salford's English and Creative Writing honours degree course for its revolutionary writing techniques and one chapter - Deliver Us from Bobby! - won a prestigious Manchester Evening News literary competition in 2011. It has now been shortlisted in the Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards 2013.
It has been made a core text for the University of Salford's English and Creative Writing honours degree course for its revolutionary writing techniques and one chapter - Deliver Us from Bobby! - won a prestigious Manchester Evening News literary competition in 2011. It has now been shortlisted in the Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards 2013.
February 3, 2021
This is an amazing book. You get introduced into the dark underbelly of the captive industry. Brilliantly written. An Ex trainer who put his heart, soul and his mind into “The Perfect Pair” (read to find out about them) now puts that same energy into telling the story...it will forever change the heart and mind of everyone who reads it. You can not put this book down once you start!
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March 5, 2021A MUST READ!
This is one of those books you can't put down once you Starr reading. What goes on behind the closed doors if dolphin around around the world will, quite frankly, shock a lot of people. This is just the beginning of the series of 3 books. You will hear how dolphins are stolen from the wild to be put in small pools to perform and how the chlorinated water burns, blisters and discolors their skin. You will also hear about how a young trainer has a special, psychic connection to " his dolphins" and how they would do anything to please him. I really can't stress enough that these really are MUST READ books, that may just begin to show you the cruelty of the captive world.
This is one of those books you can't put down once you Starr reading. What goes on behind the closed doors if dolphin around around the world will, quite frankly, shock a lot of people. This is just the beginning of the series of 3 books. You will hear how dolphins are stolen from the wild to be put in small pools to perform and how the chlorinated water burns, blisters and discolors their skin. You will also hear about how a young trainer has a special, psychic connection to " his dolphins" and how they would do anything to please him. I really can't stress enough that these really are MUST READ books, that may just begin to show you the cruelty of the captive world.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews