Quicklets: Learn More. Read Less. Sara Gruen studied English literature at the University of Ottowa, before moving to the United States from Canada in 1999. She wrote two books before Water for Elephants: Riding Lessons and Flying Changes. Her latest book, Ape House, tells the story of a bonobo ape. Gruen's Water for Elephants has received a number of awards include the 2007 Book Sense Book of the Year Award, the BookBrowse Diamond Award for Most Popular book, and the Friends of American Literature Adult Fiction Award. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, sons and a few horses, dogs, cats and a goat. Water for Elephants is the story of a veterinarian who runs away and joins the circus during the Great Depression. Along the way, he falls in love with a performer and befriends an elephant named Rosie. Sara Gruen wrote Water for Elephants in 2006 as part of the National Novel Writing Month. Before starting work on the book, she had never before attended a circus. She did extensive research on circuses and many of the characters and events depicted in Water for Elephants were based upon true stories. Originally published by Algonquin Books on May 26, 2006, Water for Elephants is available in 44 languages and has over 3 million copies in print worldwide. Water for Elephants was on the New York Times Best Seller List for 12 weeks in 2006 and the paperback hit number one on the same list on July 8, 2007. In 2011, the film based upon Water for Elephants was released, starring Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson.