The Girl Who Rode the White Lion, by Yishay Ishi Ron (2026)
This novel moves back and forth from the late 1930s in Germany to New York City in the late 1950s. Mark Spence is a veterinarian for the Central Park Zoo in 1957. When a rare white lion dies, he performs the autopsy. He finds an SS Nazi silver ring in the lion's gut, which leads him on a hunt to find the story behind the ring.
The story then takes the reader to Nazi Germany on Kristallnacht, where a vicious SS officer used the violence to terrorize the family of a former Jewish friend. He immediately sent his former friend to a concentration camp, but plays a cat-and-mouse with his friend's wife and young daughter. The mother takes her daughter, Sarah Frank, to the circus, which is in town, hoping they can hide out in the crowd there. Sarah is unofficially adopted by the circus manager and his wife.
Meanwhile, Mark Spence begins an international hunt to find clues as to the origin of the Nazi ring.
The mystery slowly unfolds with lots of twists and turns. The story of young Sarah Frank is more interesting than that of Mark Spence. Still, it was a fascinating novel that I read in one sitting.
Read: September 16, 2026
4 Stars
