Joy Adamson litter of two cubs before the publication of "Queen of Shaba", Joy Adamson's posthumous and final book. During her lifetime, she created more than 500 paintings and line drawings. Her work included the people of Kenya, botanical and animal paintings, and studies of Elsa. On 3 January 1980, in Shaba National Reserve in Kenya, Joy Adamson's body was discovered by her assistant, Peter Morson (whose name has sometimes been reported as Pieter Mawson). He mistakenly assumed she had been killed by a lion, and this was what was initially reported by the media. She was several weeks shy of her
Joy Adamson each other to educate her, but after she died and her cubs were taken in by the park, their interests went in separate directions, as did their lives. While neither wanted a divorce nor a legal separation, their conflicting interests (George wanted to continue to work with lions and she with cheetahs) made it necessary for them to live apart (though they sometimes discussed living together again, they never did). They spent each Christmas together and they remained on good terms. Using her own notes and George's journals, Joy wrote "Born Free" to tell the lion's tale. She submitted it