The Lion is In

June 11, 2012
Ephron's newest (after The Girl with the Mermaid Hair) follows a trio of women looking to escape their pasts and build a new life in an unlikely place and with an even stranger companionâa former circus lion named Marcel. Lana is a tough recovering alcoholic who has always served as protector of her best friend, Tracee, a kleptomaniac abandoned by her parents when she was young, and currently on the run from dashed hopes that her bum ex would propose. While fixing a flat on their getaway Mustang, Lana and Traceeâstill in her immaculate stolen gownâmeet Rita, a middle-aged wife and mother wandering down the road, seeking a life apart from her controlling and unloving pastor husband. When an accident leaves them stranded outside a haphazardly built diner called The Lionâcomplete with a big cat in a big cageâthe women's journeys stall, but their lives intertwine and grow together. Taking up as waitresses at the restaurant, they find comfort in their differences, and the strange allure of Marcelâonce the center of attention in the big-topâimpels the women to reclaim their lives. Ephron fans and newcomers alike will find plenty to enjoy in this fun, refreshing, and incredibly touching read.

April 1, 2012
Three women embark on a journey of self-discovery, facilitated by a giant feline, in Ephron's whimsical but winsome third novel. Twenty-somethings Tracee and Lana, best friends since childhood, have left Baltimore on the run from an unnamed crisis, but Tracee's escape attire--a designer wedding dress--provides a clue to the zaniness to follow. Lana, a recovering alcoholic who dropped out of college, is fixing a flat when drab, middle-aged Rita, who's been walking the highway for several hours, offers a hand. Rita accepts a ride in Lana's Mustang, destination unknown. Outside the rural village of Fairville, N.C., Tracee falls asleep at the wheel and totals the car. Seeking shelter, the women happen upon a ramshackle roadhouse called The Lion. Breaking in, they are shocked to discover an actual lion caged in a corner. The Lion's slovenly owner, Clayton, hires all three women as waitresses, although he at first consigns Rita to menial chores for insufficient hotness. Tim, a gangly but kind young man who works at the local dollar store as well as for Clayton, finds lodging for the women, who are stuck in Fairville until they can earn enough to fix the Mustang. Since the furniture industry outsourced all the jobs, everyone in Fairville is scrabbling for a living, and business is slow at the Lion. This changes when Rita and the lion, whose name is Marcel, form a special bond. Soon, she's taking Marcel for early-morning walks and performing lion-taming stunts in the bar at night. The characters undergo transformations as The Lion draws crowds. Clayton spruces up and tries to court Rita, who's newly confident and adventurous after decades in the stifling marriage she fled. Lana, whose confession in a town AA meeting is used against her by the local police, begins to rebuild the bridges she's burned, and Tracee, a kleptomaniac, finds a refuge from past bad boyfriend woes. Although the life-affirming message is hardly subtle, Ephron delivers it with finesse.

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Starred review from March 1, 2012
Three women walk into a bar. But these aren't just any three women, and this isn't just any old bar. This one has a lion in it, and Marcel isn't just any lion. He has mystical, almost holy, powers, or at least Rita thinks so, and she should know: she's a minister's wife. Or was, until she left home and started walking down a country road, which is where she met Lana and Tracee. Lana is a recovering alcoholic, and Tracee has kleptomaniac tendencies, and both are on the run from real and imagined transgressions. Embarking on a Thelma and Louise plus One road trip, the trio ends up in rural North Carolina when Lana's car breaks down. Forced to find work to pay for the repairs, the women find themselves starting life all over again as waitresses at a seedy roadhouse called the Lion. Marcel, the mascot, helps Rita find her true identity; serves as the higher power that has eluded Lana through months of AA meetings; and indirectly introduces Tracee to her one true love. One of the sharpest observers of human behavior around, Ephron, with her trademark mastery of smart, snappy dialogue, delivers a read-in-one-sitting, feel-good celebration of resiliency and hope.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)