Olive the Lionheart

Lost Love, Imperial Spies, and One Woman's Journey into the Heart of Africa

By: Brad Ricca

Narrated by: Billie Fulford-Brown, Brad Ricca

"Narrator Billie Fulford-Brown's delightful British accent adds realism to the true story of Olive MacLeod, a Victorian-era woman who followed her heart to Africa." -- AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award winner

From the Edgar-nominated author of the bestselling Mrs. Sherlock Holmes comes the true story of a woman's quest to Africa in the 1900s to find her missing fiancé, and the adventure that ensues.

In 1910, Olive MacLeod, a thirty-year-old, redheaded Scottish aristocrat, received word that her fiancé, the famous naturalist Boyd Alexander, was missing in Africa.

So she went to find him.

Olive the Lionheart is the thrilling true story of her astonishing journey. In jungles, swamps, cities, and deserts, Olive and her two companions, the Talbots, come face-to-face with cobras and crocodiles, wise native chiefs, a murderous leopard cult, a haunted forest, and even two adorable lion cubs that she adopts as her own. Making her way in a pair of ill-fitting boots, Olive awakens to the many forces around her, from shadowy colonial powers to an invisible Islamic warlord who may hold the key to Boyd’s disappearance. As these secrets begin to unravel, all of Olive’s assumptions prove wrong and she is forced to confront the darkest, most shocking secret of all: why she really came to Africa in the first place.

Drawing on Olive’s own letters and secret diaries, Olive the Lionheart is a love story that defies all boundaries, set against the backdrop of a beautiful, unconquerable Africa.

Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press

"Brad Ricca’s Olive MacLeod is my favorite sort of woman from history—bold and unconventional, utterly unsinkable—and her story is so full of adventure and acts of courage, it’s hard to believe she actually lived. And yet she did! Brad Ricca has found a heroine for the ages, and written her tale with a winning combination of accuracy and imagination." — Paula McLain, author of Love and Ruin and The Paris Wife

a young woman's story of africa

this is story of a young woman going to Africa to be with her loved one. and the things she learned and the lessons she had. the dangers she faced. to find out .her loved one had been killed. Amazing story of Africa in turmoil.

Amazing true story that would make a great movie

I didn’t know anything about Olive McCloud. This book is a great way to get to know her and get a view of colonial Africa. Amazing adventures, good relationships, great descriptions of lands, people, and animals.

Extraordinary

Extraordinary woman, extraordinary story, extraordinary narration. Thank you, Brad Ricca, for authoring a read that will remain within me forever.

Kind of dull

I give the author credit for shedding light to this unique woman. The story didn’t capture my attention though.