A lion in the bedroom

The author of A LION IN THE BEDROOM spent her childhood, teenage years and early adulthood in a rarefied world of luxury where the Vanderbilt's of New York were considered nouveau riche and her Australian-born mother, Enid, one of the Lindeman wine family, thought nothing of walking through Mayfair with a cheetah or flying to Kenya on safari by private airplane.

Enid, a celebrated beauty married four times and her circle of friends included the Duke of Westminster, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the Aga Khan and Winston Churchill's confidant, Lord Cherwell.

It was in the middle of this fast-moving and dangerous high-society world where Pat spent her childhood and early adult life.

A fairytale world filled with 1930s film stars, royalty, fantasy, fabulous wealth, luxury and exotic Riviera mansions.

However, at the age of 35, her life changed. Twice married and divorced while visiting Kenya Pat was handed an abandoned lion cub so small it fitted into her hand.

She fell in love with TANA - and with Africa where she made a new life in a beautiful farm just outside Nairobi.