Love Among the Lions

A tea taster with a comfortable London life finds his composure tested by love and an extraordinary wedding proposal. Theodore Blenkinsop tells his own account of a much discussed affair, beginning with the face he notices at a window in Canonbury Square. Hoping to meet the young woman, he pays for elocution lessons with Professor Polkinghorne. His persistent practice eventually earns an introduction to Lurana de Castro, whose ambitions make courtship a challenge.

A planned ceremony in a lion cage turns romantic devotion into a test of nerve. When a tiger joins the circus animals, Theodore tries to arrange its removal while presenting his own unease as concern for Lurana. F. Anstey builds this humorous novel around the gap between the narrator's proud explanations and his anxious calculations. Its appeal lies in comic self-justification, awkward social manoeuvres and the collision of ordinary respectability with public spectacle.