Reviews

The author is a South African of English descent who has worked with well-known conservationist George Adamson. (Adamson's wife, Joy, wrote the classic Born Free.) In the late 1980s, a white Kenyan ranching family shot a lioness for attacking their cattle. When it was discovered that the lioness had been nursing cubs, the family located the youngsters and gave them to Adamson to raise. Patterson had been invited by Adamson to assist with his work in procuring a game reserve in Kora. After Adamson's murder at the hands of Somali poachers, Patterson devoted himself to carrying out his dream of establishing a safe haven for the lions, moving them to an isolated area in southern Botswana and returning them to the wild. Last of the Free is the engrossing and thoroughly enjoyable continuation of the Born Free saga, which started in 1956. While the reader will be absorbed by this tale of life in the African bush, it is not just a story about baby lions growing up. It is also a story about hardship, dedication, and demanding work. Patterson has a mission‘to protect his lions and to promote their welfare‘and he tells this story as much to educate as to entertain. His message deserves wide readership. [For more on the Adamsons, see Caroline Cass's Joy Adamson: Behind the Mask, LJ 9/1/93, and Adrian House's The Great Safari, LJ 10/15/93.‘Ed.]‘Edell Marie Schaefer, Brookfield P.L., Wis.