I'd like to recommend a novel called The Lion
(the French title is Le Lion) by Joseph Kessel.
Peter Green translated the novel into English,
and, in 1962, it was made into a movie
with William Holden, Trevor Howard,
and Capucine.
The young girl (the main human character)
is named Patricia, in the book.
In the film, however, she is called Tina,
and her role is played by Pamela Franklin.
The novel is set in East Africa, in Kenya.
Patricia is a young girl living in the African wilderness,
and she has a special friendship with King,
a magnificent lion she regards as all her own, since
she raised King from the time he was a cub.
Sort of like Peter Pan, Patricia is living in her own
faraway-from-everything Paradise.
She doesn't want to grow up.
(And who would want to grow up,
if they were living Patricia's
Heidi-in-Africa blissful life?.......)
But, the world -- reality -- some would call it fate --
intrudes, as it always does, and what follows
is heart-rending, unforgettable.
It will make you weep, and it will haunt you.
And, somehow, it made me think of that poem
by W B Yeats, "The Stolen Child":
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping
than you can understand.
As mentioned earlier, the role of the young girl
in the movie (she's in the photo above with the lion)
was given to Pamela Franklin.
♥ At the end of this post, I'll give a link
for the full movie on youtube.
Don't worry about the Portuguese title
because the movie is in English.
Pamela Franklin later married fellow actor Harvey Jason.
Together with Louis, one of their sons, her husband
co-owns a very interesting and wonderful bookshop called
♥ Mystery Pier Books, Inc.
in West Hollywood,
California, USA.
♥ The link to their bookstore can be found
at the end of this blog post, and it contains
the address and telephone number.
So, do visit whenever
you're in that part of the US.
Meanwhile, try to get a copy of "The Lion"
by Joseph Kessel, and read it as soon as you can,
and you can also watch the movie on youtube
(see the links below).
Plus, here is a novel which is also set in Kenya,
and is connected to lions.
It is a poignant, shimmering story of
mystery, suspense, murder, reincarnation,
and the eternal power of love...
♥ Link to the above e-book on Amazon Kindle:
Links re. "The Lion" by Joseph Kessel:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_(novel) (contains spoilers!)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_Franklin
♥ http://www.mysterypierbooks.com/ (the bookstore is co-owned by Pamela Franklin's family)
http://www.allmovie.com/movie/v99711 (for the poster & photos of the movie)
♥ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLKxk18RID0
(The above link is for the "The Lion" 1962 movie.
Name of the youtube movie:
O LEÃO ( 1962) Willian Holden, Capucine e Trevor Howard espetaculares
(Even though the above title is in Portuguese,
the movie is in English)
Name of the youtube channel:
ArlindoDuplo
♥
.jpg/442px-Robin_in_the_snow_3_(4250400943).jpg)
.jpg){kind=link}