Katherine Rundell: how a snowy New York inspired my writing

The novelist wanted her latest book, The Good Thieves, to be full of all the places she loves in Manhattan

‘How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” goes the old joke. “Practise.” Unless you are an elephant, in which case the process is different. In 1934, an elephant stepped on to the stage of Carnegie Hall. Exactly what it did once there is not recorded, but its arrival was celebrated in print, before and afterwards. An article from 6 August 1934 in the New York Times read: “Circus in Carnegie Hall … Elephants, ponies, dogs and other familiar attractions of the tanbark will be seen in Carnegie Hall this season, with the presentation there of a genuine indoor circus.”

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