I found this to be a very moving book and read it in one sitting. It begins with a young boy running away from his boarding school in Wiltshire. He meets an old woman who tells him th story of Bertie and the butterfly lion. Bertie is an only child who liven on a farm in South Africa near a place called Timbavati. There is a fence around the house and he is not allowed to leave this compound because of the threats the wild animals pose. One day Bertie leaves the compound to rescue a white lion cub whose mother has been shot. He is allowed to keep the cub and he and the white lion become inseparable, but eventually he has to go to boarding school and his father sells the cub to a French circus owner. Bertie promise to find the lion one day. The story follows his life through his school days where he meets the love of his life, Millie, and his service in the Great War. The pleasure of the book is enhanced by the many pencil illustrations drawn by Christian Birmingham. To hear the author, Michael Morpurgo read from his novel, click on the following link:
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