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In the Skin of a Lion
1987 novel by Michael Ondaatje
In the Skin of a Lion
In the Skin of a Lion is a novel by Canadian–Sri Lankan writer Michael Ondaatje published in 1987 by McClelland and Stewart. The novel fictionalizes the lives of the immigrants who played a large role in the building of the city of Toronto in the early 1900s, but whose contributions never became part of the city's official history. Ondaatje illuminates the investment of these settlers in Canada, through their labour, while they remain outsiders to mainstream society. The novel began as a story about the 1919 disappearance of the Canadian theater magnate Ambrose Small, but Ondaatje decided to expand the story "to create a panoramic vision of the modern immigrant experience". In doing so, Ondaatje touched upon a number of flashpoints in early 20th century Canadian history, including the Toronto Police Department's Red Squad raids and the murder of Finnish labour organizers Viljo Rosvall and Janne Voutilainen. As he wrote, Ondaatje studied the archival collections of the City of Toronto as...
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