In the Skin of a Lion is a book I am constantly recommending. Michael Ondaatje wrote it in 1987, however I think it is very much overshadowed by Ondaatje's most well-known novel - The English Patient. Ondaatje is a beautiful writer: his sentences are eloquently crafted, his characters are nuanced, and his ideas on love and loss never become tired tropes.
In the Skin of a Lion is everything The Pillars of the Earth is not. The novel is set in Toronto, and this setting is an integral part of the story. Ondaatje writes of the construction of a bridge in a way that is interesting, unlike the construction of the cathedral in The Pillars of the Earth. Ondaatje describes various locations around the city and Canada, but always anchors them to the people living there. There are immigrants, anarchists, actors, a professional thief, an escaped nun, and various other characters who all give life to Toronto in the 1920s.
The main character, Patrick, loses his father in a logging accident, and drifts in and out of various jobs. Early in the novel he becomes a "searcher" looking for Ambrose Small, a millionaire who mysteriously disappeared in real life and was never found.
I wish every novel I read was as satisfying as In the Skin of a Lion. Ondaatje creates characters I truly cared about, and a plot that wasn't easy to predict. It doesn't fall into a certain genre - there are elements of mystery, history, romance, and drama. Ultimately, though, the novel is about the writing style of Ondaatje which is poetic and beautiful.
Thank you for this recommendation. Very cool. Yes, Pillars of the Earth is so predictable, it's sad that so many people actually like this book. If you do a search on the Pillars of the Earth, people list it as their favorite book, and it's a big mystery to me.
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