Jamie comes from a family of "channellers" ; people who are able to "live" the past lives of people in history just by touching an object that they held important. Jamie does not want to join the family trade as he has found the whole experience of re-living another person's life unnerving and upsetting. For his twin sister Gemma, however, the experience is more rewarding and so eventually, he is lured by her into a number of past experiences until he can find his spirit guide. All of Jamie's channelling revolves around a piece of ivory carved into the shape of an elephant - from being a young slave driver in Africa, to a plantation owner in India who fights a tiger, to the poor half brother of a landlord, to a runaway orphan in the bush in Australia - it is always the ivory statue that binds the past lives. Interesting novel that lacks a bit in the modern plot but is wonderful in the descriptions of the past. Students will particularly like the part where he is chased by a tiger through the Indian jungle after it attacks his elephant. p.125 "That was when the tiger struck..." to p.133