Book Review: The Lion Seeker

The Lion Seeker is a coming of age novel set South Africa during the political unrest leading up to, during and after Hitler's rise to power.

Unbelievably, this is the debut novel for Kenneth Bonert, a South African native who now calls Toronto home.

The Lion Seeker is written in 3 parts, the different phases of Issac's life. Sometimes brutal, often honestly upfront, we follow Issac Helger as he blunders through life facing difficult choices, many of which shape him to be the man he turns out to be.

Gitelle, his mother, is the most important person in his young life and from a young age as instilled in him a sense of familial duty. But every family has it's secrets and Helger's are deep and disturbing.

Often we're faced with decisions, some that we end up regretting and others we learn to live with. Through this epic journey, Bonert's prose and knack of weaving social and political issues all the while keeping the reader enthralled, makes this one of this years must read novels.

Look for The Lion Seeker from Random House in stores February 26th 2013.

City Girls Rating: Five out of five glasses of wine.

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