Kenneth Bonert

Bonert, Kenneth, (The Lion Seeker [hc, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013]) 978-0547898049 [pb, Harper Perennial, 2014] 978-0544334519 [Follows Isaac Helger, the son of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants, as he struggles to escape the slums. Driven by his mother’s fierce demand that he be “clever” rather than “stupid,” Isaac becomes a street-tough striver, eventually clawing his way into the car repair business and the diamond trade. The story is a gritty exploration of his moral descent, as his obsession with wealth and family survival forces him to make ruthless choices while the Holocaust looms over his relatives back in Europe. -Google/AI]

Bonert, Kenneth, (The Mandela Plot [hc, Mariner 2018] 978-1328886187 [pb, Harper Perennial, 2019] 978-1328585073 [- a literary thriller set in late-1980s South Africa during the final, violent years of Apartheid. The story follows Martin Helger, a socially awkward teenager at a private school in Johannesburg, whose life changes when a mysterious and beautiful American cousin, Annie, comes to stay with his family. As Martin falls for her, he is pulled into her world of dangerous anti-Apartheid activism. He soon discovers that his father—a wealthy scrap-metal dealer—is hiding dark secrets about the family’s involvement in the regime’s brutality. - Google/AI]