Holy Cow By David Duchovny

[amazon_link id=”1472225880″ target=”_blank” ] [/amazon_link]’Holy Cow’ is David Duchovny’s first attempt at writing a book and I have to say that it’s an admirable and entertaining effort.

Elsie Bovary is a cow and a pretty happy one at that. Until one night, Elsie sneaks out of the pasture and finds herself drawn to the farmhouse. Through the window, she sees the farmer’s family gathered around a bright Box God – and what the Box God reveals about something called an ‘industrial meat farm’ shakes Elsie’s understanding of her world to its core. The only solution? To escape to a better, safer world. And so a motley crew is formed: Elsie; Shalom, a grumpy pig who’s recently converted to Judaism; and Tom, a suave turkey who can’t fly, but can work an iPhone with his beak. Toting stolen passports and slapdash human disguises, they head for the airport …

Told from the perspective of Elise Q, a happy and healthy bovine cow, she is content in her life with her best friend Mallory, the company of the bulls whilst grazing in the fields. The only time, she ever experienced sadness, was the day that her mother suddenly disappeared and abandoned her. Elsie often wondered why her beloved mother would up and go but then suddenly it all makes sense when Elsie sees on the television that animals are killed for food. And this is when Elsie plans to make her great escape to India where cows are sacred and she doesn’t have to fear for her life. But word gets out about her adventure and Elsie finds herself with two new travelling companions Shalom, a grumpy pig who wants to go to Israel where pigs aren’t eaten and Tom the skinny Turkey, who believes if he goes to Turkey, he will be perfectly safe there. Together, the three farm animals begin on a new adventure where they learn to walk like humans, travel off to far off lands as well as embark on an entertaining and unique friendship.

The story is written like a children’s story with the inclusion of the occasional swear word and quirky illustrations that are quite similar to Quentin Blake’s drawings in Roald Dahl’s books. As it’s quite short, the book can be consumed in one sitting.

Elsie is the narrator of the story and she’s fabulous at it, she’s a diva cow with attitude, telling her story frankly with wit and charm, that truly makes for entertaining reading. Shalom and Tom are also wonderful characters, that really made me laugh out loud, as the three of them, with their passion and drive, are determined to make a change and on their journey across the world, they are unaware of the changes they make not only to themselves but also to others that they encounter along the way.

Wittily written with charismatic characters and a dashing of illustrations, ‘Holy Cow’ is a fun and humorous dairy tale that makes you look at farm animals in a new light!

You can buy [amazon_link id=”1472225880″ target=”_blank” ]Holy Cow from Amazon [/amazon_link] and is available from good bookshops.