Androcles and the Lion (play) run from his Roman persecutors. While hiding in the forest he comes upon a wild lion who approaches him with a wounded paw. His wife runs off. Androcles sees that the cause of the animal's distress is a large thorn embedded in its paw, which he draws out while soothing the lion in baby language. Androcles is captured and is sent to the Colosseum to be executed with other Christians in gladiatorial combat. They are joined by a new Christian convert called Ferrovius, who struggles to reconcile his Christian principles with his violent inclinations. The Roman captain guarding them is
A Visit from the Goon Squad take place in and around New York City, although other settings include San Francisco, Italy, and Kenya. In addition to winning the Pulitzer Prize, the book also won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction in 2010. The novel received mostly positive reviews from critics. Because of its unusual narrative structure, some critics have characterized the book as a novel and others as a collection of linked short stories. "A Visit from the Goon Squad" has 13 chapters, which can be read as individual stories and which do not focus on any single central character or narrative arc. Many