The Lion Tamer Who Lost by Louise Beech ** Blog Tour Review**

Every so often you come across a really special book and The Lion Tamer Who Lost is just that. I am thrilled to be on the blog tour to celebrate its publication. 

A devastatingly beautiful love story with a dark and tragic heart  

 

Be careful what you wish for… Long ago, Andrew made a childhood wish, and kept it in a silver box. When it finally comes true, he wishes it hadn’t… Long ago, Ben made a promise and he had a dream: to travel to Africa to volunteer at a lion reserve. When he finally makes it, it isn’t for the reasons he imagined… Ben and Andrew keep meeting in unexpected places, and the intense relationship that develops seems to be guided by fate. Or is it? What if the very thing that draws them together is tainted by past secrets that threaten everything? 

                                                                                     My Thoughts

What an evocative and poignant piece of writing. It really is a thing of beauty. The darkness at the centre creeps up on you and gives you one of those 'of course' moments. I admired the way it dealt with LGBTQ issues with such sensitivity. By the end of the book, you feel bereft that it has come to an end.

    Why do I feel like this? Well without giving away a jot of the story, I can only say it is because it is so beautifully crafted. You really care about Ben and Andrew. The descriptions of life at home and then in Africa never jar but flow back and forth naturally. You can taste the raw emotion as the secrets of the past ripple out. You join Ben's story midway through and slowly discover just why he is in Africa with the lions. Is it possible to change and does the truth always have to be faced or is it an inevitability? 

    This is one of those books which you feel that nothing you can write will really do it justice. It captures you from the start and keeps you in its grip right up to the last sentence- and what a sentence that is. Read it and find out. 

In short: Prepare to have your emotions shredded!        

 

                                                                             About the Author 

Louise Beech is an exceptional literary talent, whose debut novel How To Be Brave was a Guardian Readers’ Choice for 2015. The sequel, The Mountain in My Shoe was shortlisted for Not the Booker Prize. Her third book, Maria in the Moon, was widely reviewed and critically acclaimed. Her short fiction has won the Glass Woman Prize, the Eric Hoffer Award for Prose, and the Aesthetica Creative Works competition, as well as shortlisting for the Bridport Prize twice. Louise lives with her husband and children on the outskirts of Hull, and loves her job as a Front of House Usher at Hull Truck Theatre, where her first play was performed in 2012. 

You can follow Louise here: Twitter   |  Website 

Book link: Amazon UK 

Thanks to Louise Beech, and Karen Sullivan and Anne Cater of Orenda Books for a copy of the book and a place on the tour.  

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