What do you think?
Rate this book
Elephant Mountain: A Novel
How many young women decide to leave their husband-to-be at the altar and run off to join the Peace Corps? After graduating from college in 1971, 21-year-old Laurel Bittelson finds she has a burning desire not for marriage, but to pursue 1960’s style “relevance” in her life. Although she’d never been further from her Boston home than Vermont, she leaves fiancé, friends, family, and her music behind to live and teach in Uganda, East Africa. What she has no way of knowing is that her life will be changed forever, as she falls in love with an African man in a country heading into chaos under the brutal Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin Dada. For Laurel, in so many ways, there would be no going back.
"Linda Johnston Muhlhausen’s Elephant Mountain is an engrossing, beautiful novel about love, music, Uganda, and the interplay of wisdom and naivete that make adulthood alternately pleasurable and painful. Imagine “Out of Africa” with Ann Patchett flourishes, and you’ll know what to expect from this extraordinary book."
~~Josh Emmons, author of The Loss of Leon Meed; Prescription for a Superior Existence; and A Moral Tale and Other Moral Tales
"Elephant Mountain is a lucidly written coming-of-age story of a young Peace Corps volunteer who has to grapple with her uncertainty and youthful insecurities—sexually, socially, and politically—as her idealism collides against the harsh, but sometimes piquant realities of the world at large. Set in the beautiful country of Uganda during the time it was under the brutal dictatorship of Idi Amin, Elephant Mountain rings sharply with lived truth."
~~Daniel Weeks, author of A More Prosaic Essays, Revisions, and Reviews, 1987-2015
"Elephant Mountain is that rare book with lyrical writing that sings along in the background as the plot drives you forward. From the first sentence, I was drawn into this dangerous slice of time, cheering for the imperfect Laurel, entranced by the descriptions of Africa and especially the seemingly magical Elephant Mountain. The specter of the bloodthirsty madman, Idi Amin Dada, haunts the story since the reader knows what Laurel doesn’t—that her life is in peril from the moment she stepped onto that bus. Definitely a book club read."
~~Karen Wilk, founding member, The Happy Bookers book club
"Linda Johnston Muhlhausen’s Elephant Mountain is an engrossing, beautiful novel about love, music, Uganda, and the interplay of wisdom and naivete that make adulthood alternately pleasurable and painful. Imagine “Out of Africa” with Ann Patchett flourishes, and you’ll know what to expect from this extraordinary book."
~~Josh Emmons, author of The Loss of Leon Meed; Prescription for a Superior Existence; and A Moral Tale and Other Moral Tales
"Elephant Mountain is a lucidly written coming-of-age story of a young Peace Corps volunteer who has to grapple with her uncertainty and youthful insecurities—sexually, socially, and politically—as her idealism collides against the harsh, but sometimes piquant realities of the world at large. Set in the beautiful country of Uganda during the time it was under the brutal dictatorship of Idi Amin, Elephant Mountain rings sharply with lived truth."
~~Daniel Weeks, author of A More Prosaic Essays, Revisions, and Reviews, 1987-2015
"Elephant Mountain is that rare book with lyrical writing that sings along in the background as the plot drives you forward. From the first sentence, I was drawn into this dangerous slice of time, cheering for the imperfect Laurel, entranced by the descriptions of Africa and especially the seemingly magical Elephant Mountain. The specter of the bloodthirsty madman, Idi Amin Dada, haunts the story since the reader knows what Laurel doesn’t—that her life is in peril from the moment she stepped onto that bus. Definitely a book club read."
~~Karen Wilk, founding member, The Happy Bookers book club
328 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 28, 2018
24 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 16, 2018
I read Elephant Mountain as an ARC. Once I started couldn't stop. The story is informed by Linda Johnston Muhlhausen's experiences in Uganda via the Peace Corps in the 70's, just as Idi Amin Dada started his reign of terror. You feel the otherness of the red-headed Bostonian Laurel as she rides the jarring bus to Butawanga, as she slowly realizes none of her training has prepared her for the reality of Uganda. Stumbling along, Laurel and her companions are able to make a difference, but not in the way any of them planned. Mistakes are made, some deadly.
Elephant Mountain is that rare book with an addictive plot, real adventure, and lyrical writing. Well done!
Elephant Mountain is that rare book with an addictive plot, real adventure, and lyrical writing. Well done!
July 1, 2025
Great story
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews