The Mandela Plot, Kenneth Bonert
The Mandela Plot, Kenneth Bonert
List: $34.99 | Sale: $24.50
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The Mandela Plot

Author: Kenneth Bonert

Narrator: Dennis Kleinman

Unabridged: 15 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/07/2018


Synopsis

As the 1980s draw to a close, South Africa is a maelstrom of political violence with the apartheid regime in its death throes. Young Martin Helger is the struggling odd duck at an elite private boys school in Johannesburg, with his father a rough-handed scrap dealer and his brother a mysterious legend.

When a beautiful and manipulative American arrives at the family home, Martin soon finds himself wrenched out of his isolated bubble and thrust into the raw heart of the struggle. At the same time, secrets from the past begin to emerge and old sins long buried return in terrifying new ways, tearing at the Helgers, a second-generation Jewish family, even as the larger forces of history and politics tear apart the country as a whole. Mercy is in short supply and ultimately Martin must rely on alternative strengths to protect himself and fight for a better future.

From the acclaimed author of the National Jewish Book Award–winning debut novel The Lion Seeker, The Mandela Plot is at once a riveting literary thriller, a moving coming of age tale, and an unforgettable journey through a world that entertains and terrifies in equal measure, and holds profound resonance for the present moment.

About Kenneth Bonert

Kenneth Bonert's first novel, The Lion Seeker, won the National Jewish Book Award, the Edward Lewis Wallant Award, and the Canadian Jewish Book Award. Bonert was also a finalist for the Sami Rohr Prize and the Governor General's Literary Award. He was born in South Africa and now lives in Toronto, Ontario.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Toni on April 17, 2018

This political thriller and fiction tale take place in and around Johannesburg, South Africa during apartheid and focuses on the supporters of the cause. The story spans from the uprising up to the release of Nelson Mandela and sometime after. The main players are the Helgers, a second generation Je......more

Goodreads review by miss.mesmerized on May 25, 2018

Life is well regulated in South Africa at the end of the 1980s. Apartheid rules and black and white only meet when the former serves or received commands from the later. Thing are only slightly different in the Jewish Helger household in Johannesburg; having survived the Holocaust, the parents devel......more

Goodreads review by Heather on April 22, 2018

An epic story of a Jewish teenager in South Africa during Apartheid and his run ins with a crooked cop. Martin Helter is every kid until a young American teacher gets him involved in a plot to aid in releasing Nelson Mandela from prison. The plot and the story evolves in a fast and detailed pace tha......more

Goodreads review by Bonnie on August 13, 2018

really wanted to like this book but, for whatever reason, it just didn't click with me. My ancestors also came from Lithuania and some of my husband's family even settled in South Africa like the Helgers. The time is the 1980's and Martin Helger, the novel's protagonist, starts off as an outsider. H......more

Goodreads review by Jill on May 26, 2018

Okay, here is book review option one. Kenneth Bonert's second novel,"The Mandela Plot", is simply brilliant. A sequel of sorts to his first novel, "The Lion Seeker", the sweep of Bonert's writing in both books is amazing. Set in South Africa from 1920's to 2006, Bonert's characters and plots are bri......more