Victoria Mackinlay (text) and Ronojoy Ghosh (illustrator), The Lion Who Came to Stay, Scholastic Australia, July 2021, 32 pp., RRP $17.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760669218
The Lion Who Came to Stay is unbelievably based on a true story.
In March 1935, young Francis Rushbrook-Williams was given a lion cub by Jan Sahib of Nawanagar, an Indian Maharajah.
This was as an alternative to the elephant that was the Maharajah’s first choice as a gift for young Francis.
In the book, young Francis receives a letter from his parents in India, who ask him what he would like for Christmas as they are on their way home. The Francis in the book responds he would like an elephant, but in reality, Francis requested something alive.
A couple of months later, Francis’s parents decline the offer of an elephant from the Maharajah, but on Christmas morning, Francis finds a lion cub called Singh under the Christmas tree. Singh is Sanskrit for ‘lion’.
Singh and Francis become fast friends, until there comes a point when his parents realise Singh can no longer be kept at home with the young boy. A devastated Francis takes Singh to the zoo with his mother and says a tearful goodbye.
In reality, Francis had to go back to boarding school, and his parents returned to India – but one thing remains the same: Francis visited him as often as he could.
Accompanying this wonderful story are illustrations by Ronojoy Ghosh. His illustrations are fun and colourful, but most of all show the joy of Francis and Singh’s friendship. The end of the book has a one page summary of the real story, which will make readers see an impossible story in an entirely different light!
Reviewed by Verushka Byrow
