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
Daughter of the Lioness suicide, and Dove is crowned Queen. Aly tells the rebellion's leaders, including Dove, about her true parentage, then goes on to marry Nawat Crow and becomes pregnant after removing the anti-pregnancy charm he gave her before mating. Throughout the series, occasional appearances are made by many of the main characters from other Tortall books, including Alanna the Lioness, Baron George Cooper of Pirate's Swoop, King Jonathan III of Tortall, Myles of Olau, Daine the Wildmage, Numair Salmalín, Keladry of Mindelan, the Graveyard Hag and Tkaa the Basilisk. The main characters of the series can be found in "List of Daughter