Diana Anselmo

During the Middle Ages, a traveling executioner hires an apprentice to learn the finer points of torture and execution, and a young girl is given by her parents to a Catholic convent.

It’s a hard life for young Leo: his family just doesn’t understand why he’s a vegetarian lion. His solitude ends when he meets Avoria, the elephant queen, who has recently given birth to two calves with braided tails. Mysteriously widowed, Avoria is courted by dapper Zanco. By a series of misfortunes she is separated from her young. Leo steps in to take care of them: thus begins his search for legendary Milk Lake, during which he experiences all sorts of incredible adventures. This fable with a happy ending handles the themes of diversity and racism with engaging originality.

In 1271, five young knights journey to Thebes in Greece to recover the Sacred Shroud and deliver it back to France and into the hands of the royal family.