A Chimpanzee in the Wine Cellar, by Pat Cavendish O’Neill

A Chimpanzee in the Wine Cellar, by Pat Cavendish O’Neill. ISBN 9781868424856 / ISBN 978-1-86842-485-6

A Chimpanzee in the Wine Cellar, by Pat Cavendish O’Neill. ISBN 9781868424856 / ISBN 978-1-86842-485-6

A Chimpanzee in the Wine Cellar is Pat's newest book, rich in anecdotes that will make you laugh and cry.

Pat Cavendish O’Neil  

In Kenya, my life was saved twice by my lioness Tana and in South Africa once again my life was saved by wild animals, this time by my baboons. I will live in eternal gratitude for these animals and the love they have shown me. I have had the most incredible life, thanks to the most wonderful mother in the world, two incredible brothers and a glorious lioness called Tana who came to me as a newborn cub with her eyes still closed. Her mother had been shot down in the Tana River District and as I was well known as a compulsive rescuer of lost and injured animals I was presented with this tiny orphaned cub the moment I touched down in Nairobi to visit my younger brother Caryll. I was living in France at this time, but Tana changed all that very quickly and Kenya became my home. My beloved and most understanding mother then bought me a farm, called Ol Orion. It was a beautiful old colonial rambling bungalow with a magnificent garden and incredible views, and it was here that I felt I had found my place in the world. The farm bordered onto the Ngong Hills and nature reserve overlooking the Rift Valley. The area was called Karen after Karen Blixen, who wrote the book Out Of Africa. This period of my life will forever remain the most treasured one and the memory of my lioness Tana the most valued. Tana was brought up on my bed, with her bottles, amidst all my dogs. I house-trained her the same way as the dogs, with her nose being rubbed into whatever mess she made inside, followed by a firm smack. She became totally house trained and over the next seven years slept on my bed alongside all the dogs and Joseph my beloved chimp, her head on the pillow beside mine, breathing short lion puffs into my ear. Tana was on my bed so often that my first book ended up being called A Lion in the Bedroom. The book was a bestseller in three countries and movie rights were optioned by a German company who came out to the farm one day for lunch and told me they were going to go ahead with the film. They gave me a contract to sign, which I did - stupidly, as this handed over lifetime rights to the film, and to this day they have never made it, despite the fact that the renowned British actor Dominic West was originally standing by to play the role of my lover, Stan Lawrence Brown. The book ends when I left Kenya to live in South Africa, which is where this book more or less begins. My life in South Africa has been very different. Apart from the many tragedies, there have also been so many magical moments. In Kenya, my life was saved twice by my lioness Tana and in South Africa once again my life was saved by wild animals, this time by my baboons. I will always live in eternal gratitude for these animals and the love they have shown me. [...]

This is an excerpt from the memoires: A Chimpanzee in the Wine Cellar, by Pat Cavendish O’Neill.

Title: A Chimpanzee in the Wine Cellar
Author: Pat Cavendish O’Neill
Publisher: Jonathan Ball
Cape Town / Johannesburg, South Africa, 2012
ISBN 9781868424856 / ISBN 978-1-86842-485-6
Softcover, 15x23 cm, 253 pages, many bw and colour photos

Cavendish O'Neill, Pat im Namibiana-Buchangebot

A Chimpanzee in the Wine Cellar

A Chimpanzee in the Wine Cellar

A Chimpanzee in the Wine Cellar is rich in animal anecdotes that will make you laugh and cry.

A Lion in the Bedroom

A Lion in the Bedroom

A Lion in the Bedroom is a heartgoing friendship story from a rich girl meeting a tiny lion cub.

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