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In the Skin of a Lion

In the Skin of a Lion

Author(s): Michael Ondaatje

Location(s): Ontario, Toronto

Genre(s): Fiction

Location

Content

It is the 1920s, and Patrick Lewis has arrived in the bustling city of Toronto, leaving behind his Canadian wilderness home. He immerses himself in the lives of the people who surround him, learning, from their stories, the history of the city itself. And he has his own adventures: searching for a missing millionaire, tunnelling beneath Lake Ontario, falling in love. In the Skin of a Lion is Michael Ondaatje’s sparkling predecessor to his Booker Prize-winning The English Patient. It is here that we encounter, for the first time, Hana the orphaned girl and Caravaggio the thief, among a large cast of characters who are all lovingly and intimately portrayed. It is an exquiste and musical novel, a romance that challenges the boundary between history and myth.

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Book Reviews

Lead Review

Author: tripfiction

In the Skin of a Lion is set in Canada moves between rural Ontario and Toronto, early 20th century. Ondaatje (of the English Patient fame) employs strong, evocative descriptive language to describe the labours of...

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