Joy Adamson to a number of publishers before it was bought by Harvill Press, part of HarperCollins. Published in 1960, it became a bestseller, spending 13 weeks at the top of "The New York Times" Best Seller list and nearly a year on the chart overall. The success of the book was due to both the story of Elsa and the dozens of photographs of her. Readers had pictures of many of the events of Elsa's life leading up to her release. Subsequent books were also heavily illustrated. "Born Free" received largely favorable reviews from critics. Adamson worked closely with publishers to
Confession of the Lioness hunt. Archie sees a lioness but is unable to shoot her. He does shoot a hyena that was carrying the femur of Tandi, the lions’ latest victim. After Tandi’s funeral, Luzilla visits Archie, and together the two depart for Kulumani's district capital, Palma. Naftalinda plans to sacrifice herself to the lions, and Florindo begs Mariamar, who was a childhood companion of Naftalinda’s, to reason with her. Mariamar convinces Naftalinda to abandon her plan, but when the two women exit Florindo's residence, Naftalinda is attacked by a lioness. Mariamar wrestles with the animal until it retreats. This leads the surrounding crowd