A Lion In The Bedroom

by Pat Cavendish O'Neil

Pat Cavendish O’Neill spent her childhood, teenage years and early adulthood in a rarefied world of luxury where the Vanderbilts of New York were considered nouveau riche and her mother, Enid, one of the Lindeman wine family thought nothing of walking through Mayfair with a cheetah and flying to Kenya on safari in here private aeroplane in the 1930’s. Pat tells the story of her charmed life among the glittering names of the twentieth century, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Gianni Agnelli, Princess Grace and the Hollywood crowd.. and the day everything changed when a lover in Africa presented her with a tiny lion cub and she entered a world more magical and inspiring than anything she had known before.

Genres: Africa

563 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 2, 2012

Reviews

[Charles Inglin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pat Cavendish O'Neil had a most remarkable life (and is still alive at this time as far as I can tell). Her mother was from the Lindemann family that founded the Australian wine industry. A noted beauty, she married first an American shipping magnate, having one son. After he passed away she married a British brigadier general, the father of Pat and her brother Caryl. When he passed away she married Marmaduke Furness, one of the richest industrialists in Britain. Her childhood was a peculiar mixture of extreme privilege and treatment that might today be considered child abuse. Her mother was extremely doting, while Furness seems to have hated children, even his own son by an earlier marriage, and her Swiss governess was something of a horror. She grew up having an extreme, possibly unhealthy, attachment to her mother and brothers, while having difficulty relating to strangers. She also was strongly attached to animals, always having a menagerie, including the lion of the title, an orphaned lioness cub that was given to her in Kenya and raised as a house pet. An interesting but also rather sad life. The family's extreme wealth enabled her to essentially insulate herself from the world, leaving one to wonder what she might have done if she'd used the resources available to her. According to an article I found in a South African paper, she is (was) still alive and living on a farm in South Arica, but most of her fortune has disappeared, possibly through malfeasance by her financial manager.

[Nick van der Merwe · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read about a most unusual life.

I personally enjoyed the second half of the book (Kenya memoirs) far more than the first half (Europe memoirs). The Kenyan memoirs describe an extraordinary colonial life intertwined with the natural (and unnatural) wildlife of Kenya at the time, and the very unusual circumstances of raising a lioness and then looking after; and being looked after by the same lioness in many different and remarkable situations. I imagine Pat Cavendish O'Neill to be a natural and gifted raconteur, although she would probably believe she communicates better with her animals than with her fellow human beings.

I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in unusual memoirs, Animals (particularly lions and horses), Wildlife, Africa, Kenya, African colonialism and the post war colonial Africa era (including the Mau Mau uprising) as well as anyone interested in the second world war and post war European high society set and their various antics. A very different world experience to most!

[Louise Brummer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this a 4 star because it reminded me of my father, now passed. It was a wonderful read anyway and did really enjoy reading about Kenya and her way of life, would have thought only in books could people live these lives but no it was her reality.

Just a funny bit of info.... my Father also had a girl-friend Pat from Kenya, hahaheh but dont think it was Pat Cavendish. Would love to meet her and chat, maybe soon in Cape Town.

[Ingrid Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most Interesting up close and personal portrayal of how some of the very rich live. Her mother lived at the top of the tree and had so much money she was free to follow her own passions plus those of her indulged children
Pat is a good writer, honest and open, and very adoring of her mother and brothers

I like the African connection

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have read this book twice and enjoyed it so much more the second time. I love that it is non fiction and yet the life Pat writes about is so almost fictional. She is naively honest about the loves of her life and drops names of the rich and famous as just part of the story… Beryl Markham, Barbara Hutton to name just two.

[Colleen Mulrooney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remarkable stories of the author's life. Beautifully written, especially the parts about her time in Kenya. If you love animals, you'll love this book.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating!!!

[Hazel Edwards · Rating 1 out of 5]

Such an irritatingly smug tone of privilege based on paying others for things for which the narrator takes the credit. The major value in reading this memoir is to cause the reader to wonder if 'beauty' is sufficient excuse for a wasted and parasitic life in which there is always one of Mummy's connections to fix a problem or pay for a replacement plane, car , racehorse, house or divorce from a husband. Quite a sad story really of wasted opportunities and an argument for NOT inheriting wealth and the expectations of entitlement without contribution of effort.

Some descriptions of locations in France, Egypt and various Rolls Royce African 'safaris' effectively drawn by this 'playgirl'. She rode horses well. And loved lions to the extent of sleeping with one in her bed.

Even the cover design is weird in that it reads as Alien in the Bedroom, rather than a Lion. ( And she had one of those too) Followed her mother's custom of keeping wildlife in the bedroom, and also smuggling the 'pets' in private planes and trains regardless of quarantine regulations , Pat was wealthy enough to be called an 'eccentric' heiress and for others to accommodate her.

Her titled mother Enid was a much millionaire- married, 'beauty' who 'housed' her young children in another apartment so they would not annoy her current husband. Sad homelife really. Probably why the child Pat turned to animals.

Tempted NOT to finish because the self-delusionary style annoyed me so much and I can't understand why it got a Women's Weekly Book Club Great Read Award.

The latter section about life in Kenya, indicates her love of animals, but often the dangers in which she found herself were due to stupidity rather than courage. She was stoic about injuries but often put others at risk for her whims. Certainly an insight into a totally different lifestyle.