A joyous bucket-list trip turned into a life-changing test of love and resilience.

In 2017, Catherine, a Canadian in her fifties, returned to Tanzania to revisit the childhood landscape that had shaped her: the mongooses that darted across her path, the elephants that thundered toward her, the endless herds of wildebeests, and even a lion feared as a man-eater. Her memories from the early 1970s brim with wonder, humor, and the occasional shadow of death.

But her nostalgic journey ended with an unexpected twist. Catherine rescued a frail street cat, Stanley, and soon discovered he suffered from a devastating neurological disorder. Against all odds, she brought him home to America. As she searched for answers to his mysterious condition, she couldn’t shake the haunting echo of that deadly lion from her past. Would Stanley’s fate mirror tragedy, or could compassion rewrite the ending?

Woven with vivid childhood recollections and the poignant trials of adulthood, this heartfelt memoir explores memory, loss, and the unbreakable bond between humans and the creatures who change us forever.