Lionboy

Did You Know?

• The music printed in the book was written by composer Robert Lockhart.
• The theatre company Complicite created a stage show touring the UK from 29 May to 21 July 2013.
• The final instalment, Lionboy: The Truth, was published in January 2006.

Setting

The series is set at an unspecified time in Earth's future, resembling the modern world with key differences. Most oil has been used up; petrol cars are only for the very rich, and aeroplanes are not flown—sea travel dominates. The world runs on solar and wind power. A superpower called the Empire, hinted to be the United States, controls Europe. Global warming has half-sunken Venice. The Corporacy, a pharmaceutical megacorporation, has Gated Communities worldwide.

Plot summaries

Charlie Ashanti, a young child who can speak to cats after an incident with a leopard cub's blood, lives in London with his Ghanaian father Dr. Aneba Ashanti and British mother Professor Magdalen Start, both scientists working on a cure for asthma and allergies. They are kidnapped by the Corporacy. Charlie avoids capture and boards the Circe, a circus ship bound for Paris, befriending performers and a pride of performing lions who want to escape their cruel trainer Maccomo.

The criminal Rafi Sadler, employed by the Corporacy, pursues Charlie. In Paris, Charlie and the lions hide on the Orient Express to Venice, where his parents are rumored to be. They meet a Smilodon fatalis, a prehistoric lion ancestor created in a lab, who joins them. The King of Bulgaria discovers them and offers help.

In Venice, they seek refuge at the Palazzo Bulgaria, but the King's right-hand man Edward imprisons them, planning to present Charlie to the Doge. Local cats and gondoliers foil the plan.

Characters

Charlie Ashanti is an Afro-British boy who speaks Cat. His father Aneba Ashanti is a Ghanaian scientist, and his mother Magdalen Start is a British scientist. Mabel Start, Charlie's aunt, is a tiger trainer who envies his ability. The Young Lion is the most adventurous of the circus lions and Charlie's closest friend. The Oldest Lion is the humble leader, father of Elsina and the Young Lion. The Lionesses—one yellowish, one silvery, one bronze—are mysterious and deadly. Elsina is the young female cub. Primo is a Smilodon fatalis created from ancient DNA, later adopted by Venetians as the reincarnation of the Leone di San Marco. Sergei is a bold North England cat. Ninu is a chameleon who speaks many languages. Troy is Rafi Sadler's abused dog. George is the leopard whose blood mingled with Charlie's, giving them mutual language abilities. Major Thibaudet owns the floating circus.

Other works by the same author

Zizou Corder also wrote Lee Raven, Boy Thief and Halo. Louisa Young, one half of the pen-name, authored the trilogy A Great Task of Happiness, Babylove, Desiring Cairo and Tree of Pearls, as well as The Book of the Heart, the trilogy My Dear I Wanted to Tell You, The Heroes' Welcome and Devotion, the memoir You Left Early: A True Story of Love and Alcohol, and the novel Twelve Months and a Day.