The Lion Seeker

Set in Johannesburg between the World Wars, this coming-of-age story tells of a Jewish immigrant boy from Lithuania facing adversity with determination and sometimes nothing more. Isaac Helger grows up in a racially stratified society in which he is sometimes victim and sometimes perpetrator. His family is plagued by memories, secrets, and the poverty that his scarred mother is resolved to escape in order to return to Lithuania and rescue her sisters just as Hitler rises to power. Bringing readers to identify with such a fiercely flawed main character who never fails to get into trouble as he approaches manhood takes skill, and Bonert largely succeeds, proving to be an author to watch. The dialog's amalgam of languages—everything from Yiddish to Afrikaans and from African dialects to English—adds an interesting flavor to a powerful debut.