The Roots of Heaven

1956 French edition
Author	Romain Gary
Original title	Les Racines du ciel
Translator	Jonathan Griffin
Country	France
Language	French
Set in	French Equatorial Africa, 1955
Publisher	Éditions Gallimard
Publication date	5 October 1956
Published in English	1958
Pages	510
Dewey Decimal	843.9

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

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.