Get our Best Book Club Books of 2025 eBook!

Book Summary and Reviews of The Lion is In by Delia Ephron

The Lion is In by Delia Ephron

The Lion is In

by Delia Ephron

  • Critics' Consensus (1):
  • Published:
  • Mar 2012, 304 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

Tracee is a runaway bride and kleptomaniac.  Lana's an audacious beauty and a recovering alcoholic.  Rita is a holy-roller minister's wife, desperate to escape her marriage and discover whether she actually has a mind of her own.

One warm summer's night, these three women go on the lam together.  Their car breaks down on a rural highway in North Carolina and they're forced to seek shelter in a seemingly abandoned nightclub.  Which is where they meet Marcel. And soon everything changes.

Marcel, you see, is a lion, a retired circus performer stuck in a cage in this godforsaken roadhouse.  And through admiration - one might even say love - for Marcel, our heroines find a way to confront their complicated pasts and fight for the strange, embracing relationships they've formed out in the middle of nowhere They ultimately navigate their way back to their own hearts - and ours.

Written with the deftness, humor, and sparkling wit that have marked her books, plays, and movies, Delia Ephron's The Lion Is In is an unforgettable story of friendship, courage, love - and learning to salsa with the king of the jungle.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"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." - Booklist

"Three women embark on a journey of self-discovery, facilitated by a giant feline, in Ephron’s whimsical but winsome third novel." - Kirkus

This information about The Lion is In was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Delia Ephron Author Biography

Delia Ephron is a bestselling author, screenwriter, essayist, and playwright. Her novels include the New York Times bestseller Siracusa and The Lion Is In. She has written books of essays (Sister Mother Husband Dog (Etc.)), books of humor (How To Eat Like A Child), and books for children and young adults. Her movie credits include You've Got Mail, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, This is My Life, Michael, and Hanging Up (based on her novel). Her play, "Love, Loss, and What I Wore," written with her sister Nora Ephron (based on the book by Ilene Beckerman), ran for two years off Broadway and has been performed internationally.

Author Interview
Link to Delia Ephron's Website

Name Pronunciation
Delia Ephron: Deelia EF-ruhn

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more literary fiction...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris
    by Evie Woods
    From the million-copy bestselling author of The Lost Bookshop.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    The Fairbanks Four
    by Brian Patrick O’Donoghue

    One murder, four guilty convictions, and a community determined to find justice.

  • Book Jacket

    Happy Land
    by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

    From the New York Times bestselling author, a novel about a family's secret ties to a vanished American Kingdom.

  • Book Jacket

    One Death at a Time
    by Abbi Waxman

    A cranky ex-actress and her Gen Z sobriety sponsor team up to solve a murder that could send her back to prison in this dazzling mystery.

  • Book Jacket

    The Seven O'Clock Club
    by Amelia Ireland

    Four strangers join an experimental treatment to heal broken hearts in Amelia Ireland's heartfelt debut novel.

Who Said...

Music is the pleasure the human mind experiences from counting without being aware that it is counting

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

A C on H S

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.