Gdy Emma Lindberg przyjeżdża do Afryki odwiedzić ośrodek badawczy, gdzie przed laty zmarła jej matka, pragnie jedynie ukoić ból. Zamiast tego zostaje wciągnięta w poszukiwania zaginionego dziecka. Razem z masajskim weterynarzem Danielem Oldeani wyrusza w podróż po dzikich pustkowiach północnej Tanzanii. Ich wspólne odkrycie całkowicie zmieni wiarę Emmy w to, jak działa świat. Życie małej dziewczynki ocalą niezwykłe poczynania lwicy. A to tylko początek.
Katherine Scholes was born in Tanzania, East Africa, the daughter of a missionary doctor and an artist. She has fond memories of travelling with her parents and siblings on long safaris to remote areas where her father operated a clinic from his Land Rover. When she was ten, the family left Tanzania, going first to England and then settling in Tasmania. As an adult, Katherine moved to Melbourne with her film-maker husband. After working there for many years, writing books and making films, they returned with their two sons to live in Tasmania.
Katherine's internationally bestselling novels have been translated into numerous languages. She is especially popular in Germany and France, where she has sold over two million books.
When Australian medical researcher Emma Lindberg went to Tanzania on a pilgrimage to the field research station that her mother had worked and died at twenty five years previously, she had vague ideas of spending a few hours there, then continuing on to participate in a Safari Tour. But she had only been at the station a short time and a mother camel and her calf arrived in a distressed state. The larger camel carried a saddle pack and was injured – but there was no sign of the owner. Daniel, the veterinary surgeon at the station and Emma decided to follow the trail the camels had left, but had no idea the terrible disaster they would discover…
The footprints of a lioness and her three cubs mingled with human footprints and the worst was deemed. But although the police air search had been exhaustive, Emma and Daniel refused to give up hope. They headed into the desert on a search that would take them far into the African wilderness. But would they locate what they were desperate to discover? And would Emma be able to find the inner peace she had been unknowingly searching for? It seemed to Emma that by going to Tanzania she had set in motion an upheaval over which she had no control…
Lioness by Aussie author Katherine Scholes is a heart-warming story of love and loss; of courage and tenacity – and of the amazing resilience of children. The lioness in this story – Moyo – was very special. The vast ruggedness of the African desert was brought to life in this novel, along with the sheer beauty of the area. Lioness is my first by this author and it definitely won’t be my last. Highly recommended.
Beautifully written and what brilliant research. It was fascinating to explore the African landscape, and to learn so much about the animals and people who live in this world. This book is definitely worth reading. Stories that show that a Lioness will care for the young of another species is very moving. What an extraordinary story. I loved it.
Angel is traveling by camel across the plains of northern Tanzania with her mother when disaster strikes. At a nearby disease research station, Emma has travelled from Australia to the place where her mother died to attempt to put her grief to rest.
When a camel’s face appears at the station’s window, Emma and the station’s researcher Daniel go in search of the owner of the belongings of the camel’s pack and discover human footprints among those of a lioness and her cubs. Caught up in the search for a missing person, Emma’s tentative journey to Tanzania becomes a life changing one.
Considering I picked this book up solely because of the title and cover 🙈 I was pleasantly surprised to discover the story was just as appealing as the cover - as let’s face it, it often isn’t. This is a thoughtful, heartwarming and captivating read and if books can transport you to different places, I was most definitely in Tanzania where the landscape and life in the northern plains was lovingly and artfully painted.
That the book is dedicated in memory of George Adamson will give you an idea of where some of this story will take you - and if you are an animal lover, I think you can’t help but love where it takes you. As well as the majestic lions, this story also looks at loneliness, isolation, grief and what it means to be a mother. A truly beautiful story. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
This is an endearing story about loss, bravery and sacrifice. The author, Katherine Scholes, places her most vulnerable characters in the wilds of Africa and develops their strengths through the terror and trials around them. She parallels the lives of medical researcher Emma Lindberg with that of a child Angel Kelly both of whom suffer the loss of their mothers. This is not a complicated book but it certainly leaves the reader thinking about priorities and loyalty. I was surprised to enjoy the book as much as I did. Carinya
Maybe naive, but truly engaging story of a scientist on a mission in Tanzania, coming to see the place her mother died in. She gets involved in a search for a girl, you see how her fears about wild Africa meet the reality, how she gets involved and what decisions she will take. Fascinating read, especially if you also fell in love with the real Africa like I did since my first visit!
Interesting read. Story of how a lioness raised by humans ‘adopts’ a child left in the dessert after the unexpected death of her mother and protects and feeds her while making her way with the child and cubs back to the shelter where she was raised. Implausible? Probably! But I enjoyed it regardless.
Angel has lived all of her young life in Africa, she has known nothing else. She’s making her way across Tanzania with her mother and their two camels to fulfil a promise, something that they consider to be very important. When tragedy strikes, Angel is left all alone in the desert, facing predators. Her rescuer is an unlikely source.
Emma is a medical researcher from Melbourne Australia, who has made a trip to Tanzania to visit a research station and hopefully lay some ghosts to rest. She lost her mother, also a medical researcher to a deadly viral hemorrhagic fever that her mother was researching at the time. Emma was only seven at the time of her death and it affected her profusely. Now that she is turning the same age her mother was when she died, she has a desire to go and see the research station and hopefully find some peace. When she arrives me meets Daniel, a quietly spoken and very well educated Masai who is working at the station. When Emma’s guide vehicle has some engine trouble, she ends up staying at the research station overnight and is surprised by the arrival of camels that look well cared for but also like there has been some struggle. Daniel tracks the camels path and they find the body of a woman and evidence of a small child…and a lioness and her cubs.
Emma knows she can’t leave now – not until she has found the child. The authorities believe that she is dead, dinner for the lioness and her cubs but it seems that this particular lioness was raised by a human, a white African who keeps a sanctuary of sort, raising cubs who have had their parents killed by poachers or who may have been injured. They go to him for help, certain that if anyone can find this lion and the girl, it is him.
The longer Emma spends in Tanaznia, the harder it is becoming for her to think about leaving. She is interested in the work being done here and thinks that she might have an idea for how the researchers can take their approach to the next level. And then there’s Daniel, who impresses her with his quiet intelligence and manner. Suddenly she can see, when she has been unable to before, just what might have drawn her mother back here time and time again.
Lioness was my April read for the Around the World in 12 Books Challenge where the chosen country was Tanzania. Whilst I’ve been on quite an African fiction run lately I don’t think I’ve read anything set in Tanzania. I can’t say the inclusion of the viral fever in this book particularly made me want to go there, but I did find the research interesting. The actual virus the author uses in the book doesn’t exist but it is very close to both the Ebola virus and the Lassa fever, both of which sound like the stuff of nightmares. Should I ever go to Africa (highly unlikely) I imagine I would be the sort of overly paranoid Western traveler that Emma is in the beginning. She’s overly cautious about everything – eating the food, drinking the beverages, smothering herself in mosquito netting when she sleeps and making sure she has her green bag strapped to her at all times which is basically a massive first aid kit containing everything the wary first world person might need in a third world country. Given her mother did die – a scientist who accidentally pricked her finger with a bloody needle containing a contaminated sample, then perhaps her fear is understandable. Yet despite this, Emma has chosen to become a medical researcher too, albeit in relatively safe obscurity in a Melbourne laboratory.
Emma comes to embrace the remoteness of Africa, the danger and the beauty. She relaxes as she spends more time there, letting go of some of her strict monitoring of food, drink and sleeping routines. She experiences something truly remarkable at the lion sanctuary and the epiphany she has regarding research into the virus spurs her passions and makes her realise that there’s some things at home that she’s not very passionate about.
Although this book was an easy and enjoyable read, I did find it fairly flimsy in terms of really good plot. What would’ve made a fantastic read all would occur after the end of the book, such as the research being undertaken to help develop a vaccine to the terrible virus, a Westerner adjusting to living in Africa, not just visiting there for a few days, dealing with the bureaucratic issues, the lack of quality equipment and conditions. I would’ve much preferred to read about that as well as the journey to get there.
The author works to establish some sort of ‘connection’ between Emma and Daniel but it wasn’t something that particularly worked for me. He’s polite and intelligent yes, and she’s awkward and foreign but their so called bond that develops as they search for Angel didn’t ever strike me as something that seemed natural, something that would make her want to stay in Africa. It’s one thing to move interstate for a man you don’t know well (who does that? *cough*) but it’s quite another to move not only to another country but to a country that is different in every single way to the one you left behind. I’m not saying it wouldn’t work, but Emma’s decision process seemed very faulty, especially for the way in which her character had been established throughout the whole rest of the book.
This book is dedicated to the memory of George Adamson and his life was obviously the inspiration. That said it was a work of fiction. What a beautiful story of love, loss, friendship, trust, finding yourself and your place in the world and what it means to be a mother.
J’ai trouvé l’histoire intéressante quoi qu’un peu lente, j’apprécie en général quand il y a plus d’action que dans cette œuvre mais le tout est bien écrit ça se lis agréablement et l’histoire en elle-même est belle.
Lorsque j’hésite entre la note trois ou quatre, je tranche toujours de la même façon : est-ce que je relirai cette œuvre lorsque la réponse est oui j’y vais pour quatre, le cas échéant, je vais à trois. C’est donc ce qui s’est passé ici.
Afrikafeeling zum Schmökern im Urlaub... Angel, ein Mädchen das gerade seine Mutter durch einen Schlangenbiss verloren hat & Zuflucht bei einer Löwenfamilie sucht - Wissenschaftlerin Emma, auf Spurensuche nach ihrer in Afrika verstorbenen Mutter, welche dort als Forscherin bei der Suche nach Heilung für einen gefährlichen Virus den Tod fand. Zwei Schicksale, die inmitten der heißen Steppe Afrikas zusammengeführt werden, sich selbst und ihren neuen veränderten Weg im Leben finden...
Die Handlung wird in mehrere Erzählstränge aufgeteilt, welche im Laufe des Buches - bestehend aus insgesamt 19 Kapiteln - zusammentreffen. Es ist bereits recht früh vorhersehbar, dass sich das junge Mädchen Angel und die Australierin Emma einander begegnen werden. Scholes Erzählstil ist einfach gehalten und daher sehr flüssig zu lesen. Leider hat mich die Story, die teilweise weit hergeholt und unrealistisch klingt, nicht wirklich erreichen können. Ich kämpfte mich nach einem doch gelungenen Start aus der Leseprobe teilweise sehr zäh durch die Kapitel, während es auf den letzten 150 der insgesamt 352 Seiten wieder etwas zügiger voranging. Insgesamt war mir die Geschichte zu abwegig und stellenweise einfach zu dick aufgetragen, auch wenn sich Katherine Scholes bei real existierenden Personen Inspiration holte. Positiv bewerte ich die durch den Erzählstil getragene Atmosphäre des Kontinents Afrika mit all seiner Vielfalt, seinen dort lebenden Menschen und ihrer Lebenseinstellung, welche mich durchaus berührt hat. Katherine Scholes weiß den Leser für die Schönheit Afrikas und Tansania im Besonderen mit ausschweifenden & blumigen Beschreibungen von Flora, Fauna & Einheimischen zu begeistern. Man merkt, dass sie selbst lange Zeit in diesem Land gelebt hat.
Fazit: Ein leichtes Buch für laue Sommernächte, für Afrikafans auf jeden Fall empfehlenswert!
When Emma Lindberg travels to a remote corner of Africa to visit the research station where her mother died years ago, all she wants is to finally lay her grief to rest.
Instead, she finds herself caught up in the search for a missing child.
Together with Maasai veterinary surgeon Daniel Oldeani, she sets out on a journey deep into the dusty wilderness of northern Tanzania.
What they discover there will shake to the core Emma's beliefs about how the world works.
A little girl's life has been saved by the extraordinary actions of a mother lioness.
And that is only the beginning . . . An incredible saga . . . this is a spellbinding book filled with the essence of Africa and soul-searching lessons on motherhood.'
Set in Africa, this, like all Katherine Scholes books have a family theme. Tracing the last place her mother was before she died, the main character goes to Africa. She finds where her mother was working, but a lioness has another plan for her life. Always these books are an easy read. The lioness and an orphaned child are the main support cast in this novel, while the main character questions her whole life plan. Although this would not be the decisions I would need to make, it was a thought provoking read. A good holiday read.
About a third into the book I thought the story was a bit unbelievable, but do read the Author's Note - inspired by true events! Truth is certainly stranger than fiction. I actually enjoyed this book much more than I initially thought I would and a week after finishing it, I still sometimes think about the story and the characters. Very predictable ending, otherwise I would have given it 4 stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I wish the novel could only be about Angel and her life in Africa. However, even as it is, the book is still good, with colorful descriptions of the African culture and nature.