South Africa these days may call itself the “Rainbow Nation,” but the society portrayed in The Lion Seeker (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $28) is more like the smudged iridescence in a puddle of spilled engine oil. The characters in this ambitious historical saga by the Canadian-by-way-of-South-Africa debut novelist, Kenneth Bonert, inhabit a world of ruthlessly utilitarian choices; of simple practical necessities arising from, as well as perpetuating, the brutal prevailing social narrative of reflexive, unselfconscious racism, prejudice, and hate. Of course, there is also love and acceptance in this world, and the relationship between the red-haired, Lithuanian-born, Jewish “white” panel beater Isaac Helger and his fierce, scarred and secretive, but loving and indulgent mother, Gitelle, forms the center of the story. The action unfolds in the midst of South Africa’s mine-dust-covered slums and desolate veldt, her remote and struggling farms, and her palatial homes on manicured lawns, all narrated in a clear and straightforward, but tough and authentic vernacular.