A Lion called Christian: The True Story of the Remarkable Bond Between Two Friends and a Lion by Anthony Bourke and John Rendall

In 1970, two Australians then living in London and working at a furniture store called "Sophisticat" walked into the Zoo section of Harrod's department store and saw two Lion cubs in a cage, a male and a female. Both were immediately drawn to the male cub, and despite a price of 250 guineas (or about 3500 pounds in 2009 currency), they immediately decided that their lives were incomplete without a lion cub.

Though the cub had been named Marcus by the Harrods staff, Ace and John named him Christian. He was a placid cub, pretending all the humans around him didn't exist, but even before they brought him home, Ace and John spent time playing with him and being near him. But before they brought him home, they had a lot to do, getting permission from the Shop Owners to keep him in the basement, working out how they would keep him fed and the best diet for him, and so on.

His sister had already been sold, so when Christmas came around, they carried Christian with them back to the shop. From the start, he took right to the shop and was an instant draw. A placid, easy-going cub, he never attacked anyone or growled or roared at them. In the neighborhood, he was an instant sensation, and people would come into the shop just to look at him- and usually end up buying some furniture, thus increasing the shop's business.

As Christian grew older, he grew larger, and increasingly too big for the shop. Even as he became something of a media and radio star, Ace and John knew they couldn't keep Christian forever, and sought something better for him than selling him to a zoo or a circus. Instead, they were contacted by George Adamson, who had once owned and eventually rehabilitated Elsa the Lioness, of which movies were made about her, the most famous of which is "Born Free".

Adamson had wanted to rehabilitate lions and create his own Pride. He already had two Lions, Boy, who had been in the Born Free movie, and a female named Monalisa. After a long time as he sought permission to get the lions released into a Pride, Christian was finally shipped to Africs. Ace and John accompanied him, along with a film crew who was filming him for a film called "Christian the Lion".

They stayed in Africa for a few months to get Christian acclimated, then returned to London. But a year later, in 1971, they returned to Africa for a visit. Would Christian remember them? Yes, he did, and the video of that reunion became an internet sensation on YouTube. But they again returned a year later, to meet with Christian one last time. He was a fully adult Lion now, with a full mane, and once again, he remembered them. But shortly after Christian left again, he and his pride moved down towards the Meru National Park, after which, he never returned to the area he'd been released in.

But Christian, thanks to his excellent early nutrition, was a huge lion, probably larger than all the other lions in that part of Africa, and so would have been very successful as a Pride Leader. Lions in the wild only live 12 to 15 years, but Adamson is sure that Christian lived out a long and successful life in Africa.

This book was just incredible. I found it at the library and took it home and devoured it in about an hour. It was just incredible reading- most of the book was written in 71/72, but the authors have updated it with new information and tried to explain some parts of it better than they did in the 70's.

The book also includes plenty of pictures, and a lion cub acts a lot like a very large housecat. Who knew? Pictures of Christian taking clothes out of a drawer so he could lie in it, or of him hanging out on the stairs- lying under the table or playing with toys are both fascinating and completely charming. And of course, I just had to look at the YouTube video- the sight of a huge lion showing his affection for the humans who raised him is just... Amazing. I can't say it any better than that.

You should definitely read this book. It's a fascinating look at the life of an animal who lived an incredible life, both in England, and Africa. And not knowing what happened to Christian adds a bit of mystery to the tale. Highly recommended.