A Lion Among Men complements the New York Times bestseller Son of a Witch in fleshing out the world of Oz, seen this time through the eyes of the Cowardly Lion-remembered from Wicked as a tiny cub defended by Elphaba.While civil war looms in Oz, an ancient and tetchy oracle named Yackleprepares for death. Before she can return to dust, however, theCowardly Lion, an enigmatic figure named Brrr, arrives in search ofinformation about Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the West. Aspayment, Yackle, who hovered on the sidelines of Elphaba's life,demands some answers of her own.

Abandoned as a cub, Brrr's earliest memories are only gluey hazes.But his path from infancy in the Great Gillikin Forest is no YellowBrick Road. Seeking to redress an early mistake, he tumbles though aswamp of ghosts, becomes implicated in a massacre of trolls, and fallsin love with a Cat princess. Sidestepping the laws that oppress talkingAnimals, Brrr cannily avoids a jail sentence by agreeing to serve as alackey to the warmongering Emperor of Oz.

A Lion Among Men traces a battle of wits between adversariesdistracted by the armies approaching on either side of them. What doesthe Lion know of the whereabouts of the Witch's boy, Liir? What canYackle reveal about the auguries of the Clock of the Time Dragon? Isdestiny ever arbitrary? Can those tarnished by infamy escape theirsobriquets-cowardly, wicked, brainless, criminally earnest-to claimtheir own histories, to live honorably within their own skins beforethey're skinned alive?