Born Free

Joy Adamson (née Friederike Victoria Gessner) was a naturalist, artist, and author best known for her bestselling book *Born Free* (1960), which recounts her experiences raising and rehabilitating an orphaned lion cub named Elsa in Kenya with her husband George Adamson.[1][2][5] She spent nearly 40 years living on Kenyan game reserves, advocating for wildlife conservation through her writing, painting, and lecturing.[1][2][6] Adamson authored a trilogy about Elsa and was murdered in 1980 while working on a new project.[1][5]