The Lion Seeker - Paperback

by Kenneth Bonert (Author)

National Jewish Book Award Winner: A family saga set in WWII-era South Africa offering both "page-turning thrills [and] a painful meditation on destiny" (NPR, All Things Considered).

Called "a latter-day Exodus" by Kirkus Reviews, The Lion Seeker is an epic historical novel centered on the life of Isaac Helger. The son of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants, he runs around the streets of Johannesburg as a young hooligan and dreams of getting rich. But his parents are still haunted by the memories of the anti-Semitic pogroms they escaped, even as Isaac secretly pursues a relationship with a gentile girl.

As the Nazi threat rises, Isaac is caught between his mother's urgent ambition to bring her sisters to safety out of the old world, and his own desire to enjoy the freedoms of the new. But soon his mother's carefully guarded secret takes them to the diamond mines, where mysteries are unveiled in the desert rocks and Isaac begins to learn the bittersweet reality of success bought at any cost.

Back Jacket

A taut, visceral account of a young Jewish boy s African life . . . offering at times page-turning thrills and at others a painful meditation on destiny and volition. NPR, All Things Considered
A powerful family saga, The Lion Seeker is a thrilling ride through the life of Isaac Helger, from redheaded hooligan on the streets of Johannesburg to striving young man on the make. Growing up in the shadow of World War II, Isaac is caught between his mother s urgent ambition to bring her sisters to safety out of the old world and his own desire for the freedoms of the new. But soon his mother s carefully guarded secret takes them to the diamond mines, where mysteries are unveiled in the desert rocks and Isaac begins to learn the bittersweet reality of success bought at truly any cost.
[A] master storyteller . . . Bonert s zest for description, his attention to social nuances, and his eagerness to tell a large story in a large way . . . [creates] a big, richly detailed novel. Tablet Magazine
Raw and ambitious. Moment
Astonishingly mature, admirably incautious . . . It s visually and thematically sweeping, rich with diverse personalities, packed with tender waves and roiling crests of love, loss, hope, hatred. National Post (Canada)
Stunning. Jewish Daily Forward
Powerful and thoroughly engrossing . . . To read it is to be reminded how great a great novel can be. David Bezmozgis, author of The Free World
KENNETH BONERT s fiction has appeared in McSweeney s, Grain, and the Fiddlehead, and his journalism has appeared in the Globe and Mail and other publications. Born in South Africa, Bonert is the grandson of Lithuanian immigrants.
Look for the reader s guide at www.marinerbooks.com.
Author photograph (c) Richard Dubois
MARINER
www.marinerbooks.com
$14.95
ISBN 978-0-544-33451-9

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Author Biography

KENNETH BONERT's fiction has appeared in McSweeney's, Grain, and the Fiddlehead, and his journalism has appeared in the Globe and Mail and other publications. Born in South Africa, Bonert is the grandson of Lithuanian immigrants.