The Prison Minyan

Jonathan Stone's novel "Otisville" explores the lives of white-collar Jewish offenders in a prison with a kosher deli, where they game the system and fight back against shadowy forces. Deborah Liston, a visiting poetry professor, becomes involved in their lives and is in dire peril when she sees too much. The novel is a sharp, comic, wise, profound, and deeply moral exploration of the post-truth era.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 13 January 2022
Publisher: Eye Books

The scene is set in Otisville Prison, located in upstate New York, where a group of fraudsters, tax evaders, triggermen, and forgers gather for a Talmudic study and prayer group, or minyan, led by a fellow convict rabbi. As the only prison in the federal system with a kosher deli, Otisville is a popular choice for white-collar Jewish offenders, many of whom secretly enjoy their time there. They have learned to game the system, and when the regime becomes harsher to punish a newly arrived celebrity convict who has upset the 45th president, they find devious ways to fight back. Shadowy forces up the ante by trying to assassinate the newcomer, and visiting poetry professor Deborah Liston finds herself in dire peril when she sees too much. She has helped the minyan look into their souls. Will they now step up to save her? Jonathan Stone's novel brings the sensibility of Saul Bellow and Philip Roth to the post-truth era in a sharply comic, wise, profound, and deeply moral way.

Weight: 284g
Dimension: 129 x 197 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781785632754