Lion On A Leash

<p><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Based on the incredible true story of a lion cub born in captivity and the circus cavalcade that captivated a nation.</strong></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>In this remarkable novel based on a true story journey back to just before the turn of the nineteenth century when the circus held the heart of a nation and a young lion became headline news for an entire generation. </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>When a male African lion is born to French & Company's Great Railroad Show in Alderson West Virginia the company fears lost profits as the cub's mother the star of their production turns to nurturing her offspring. The circus orders the cub drowned. </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Susan Bebout </span><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>wife of the town's blacksmith</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> comes to the rescue taking in the cub and raising it in domesticity where it is beloved by many in the community-but loathed by others as a dangerous predator. As newspapers around the nation tell the story of the rescued lion circuses compete to own him-and so does the Smithsonian National Park Zoo.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Emerging from the fray is the Barnum & Bailey Circus eventually becoming home to the cub and billing him as ferocious shocking Susan who raised him to be a gentle creature. The lion named French after the circus where he was born became a national sensation-and this is his story.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Lion On A Leash journeys across thousands of miles exposing the beautiful and the sinister in the nineteenth century circus cavalcade. For fans of animal stories the early era of show business and historical fiction French's story will surprise delight and remind readers that every living thing deserves a chance to thrive.</span></p>