The Books

The Good Lion

by Beryl Markham
Illustrated by Don Brown

One Potato Review

Reader beware – and rejoice! This does not end with a lion and a youthful Beryl Markham skipping arm in arm into the bushes over a Jack Johnson soundtrack. The Good Lion in this case actually refers to a passively domesticated predator who loses his mind for just a second - or suddenly remembers who he is – and pays for his transgression with a lifetime of staring (peacefully? regretfully? inevitably?) from behind bars. Because this is human law now, and human country, which Markham (sounding a little like Isak Dinesen here) describes with an ardor that is deeply, ambivalently felt.