The Girl Who Rode the White Lion

     A literary fiction based on a true story deepens the involvement a reader has with the characters and overall outcome of the book.  I found this to be especially true when reading the novel, The Girl Who Rode the White Lion, by Yishay Ishi Ron.  

    Yishay Ishi Ron is the son of a Holocaust survivor and an Israeli writer. His story is based on the true story  of the Althoff family who ran a circus and used their unique opportunity to safeguard Jews during the Holocaust.  Yishay Ishi Ron took the reality of the horror of war and  created a story of love, survival and well served justice.  True heroes chose to protect the persecuted through "Moral Charity" (as stated in the acknowledgements portion of his book). 

    Set in Germany, 1938, Sarah Frank a young Jewish girl and her family are routed from their home through the obsession of an SS. officer, Hauptsturmfűhrer Hubert Zimmer of the Third Reich they had thought was a friend.  Separated from her husband, Ruth Frank is on the run with her young daughter to hide from the evil.  Needing refuge and respite for a few hours Ruth finds that Adolf Frei's Magical Circus is in town and a perfect location to hide from the Nazi's while giving her young daughter a bit of joy.  Ruth finds her persecutor in the crowd and sends Sarah to the circus manager, Adolf Frei for refuge.  Thus sets the stage for a life of hiding as a part of the circus.  Next we meet Dr. Mark Spencer,  a veterinarian for the New York Central Park Zoo in 1957. Dr. Spencer is called in to perform an autopsy on an aged white lion, named Christmas. While teaching a younger veterinarian, Dr. Spencer discovers an odd item within the white lion's intestines.  A Nazi SS officer's silver skull ring.  From this time forth, the reader is taken on a journey of survival for Sarah Frank and a mystery to solve for Dr. Mark Spencer.  

    Yishay Ishi Ron does a masterful job of weaving the two timelines together to create both intrigue in the mystery as well as fear for the life of young Sarah.  War is ugly and the reader feels this truth within the book, The Girl Who Rode the White Lion. I began reading the story assuming it was a purely fiction based tale.  It wasn't until the end of the book that I found in the acknowledgement section that the story was based on truth. This made it so much more powerful. 

    I sincerely hope that  Yishay Ishi Ron's book soars in popularity so many may revisit the tragedy of evil and how it effects many.  We must remember and not repeat.  I have included a web source below to further educate the source of the story. 

The Girl Who Rode the White Lion by  Yishay Ishi Ron  and translated from the Hebrew by Yardenne Greenspan will publish June 16, 2026 through Soncata Press. Please take the time to read this wonderful novel.  I received an Advanced Reader's Copy of The Girl Who Rode the White Lion through NetGalley in exchange for an honest reivew.  Thank you again NetGalley for the opportunity to discover diverse voices in literature. 

 https://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/stories/althoff.html

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