The Prison Minyan

Jonathan Stone

Welcome to Otisville, America’s only Jewish prison…where a new celebrity inmate is about to shatter the peace

‘Delectable…glorious… this most cherishably Jewish of books’ Jewish Chronicle

The scene is Otisville Prison, upstate New York. A crew of fraudsters, tax evaders, trigamists and forgers discuss matters of right and wrong in a Talmudic study and prayer group, or ‘minyan’, led by a rabbi who’s a fellow convict.

As the only prison in the federal system with a kosher deli, Otisville is the penitentiary of choice for white-collar Jewish offenders, many of whom secretly like the place. They’ve learned to game the system, so when the regime is toughened 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 ‘Epstein’ – ie assassinate – the newcomer, and visiting poetry professor Deborah Liston ends up 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 brings the sensibility of Saul Bellow and Philip Roth to the post-truth era in a sharply comic novel that is also wise, profound and deeply moral.

‘Rare is the book which is so delectable that, once you have finished it, you want immediately to read it all over again, but Jonathan Stone’s glorious The Prison Minyan is just that… Stone’s dry tones, also present in his earlier, terrific novels, surely reach an apogee in this most cherishably Jewish of books’ Jewish Chronicle

‘Erudite, trenchant and touching, with a premise that the young Philip Roth would have envied’ Michael Arditti

‘A puckish, Philip Roth-esque satire. Stone offers more, thankfully, than low-hanging comic fruit. He skilfully digs into the challenges and trials of his inmates and their incarceration as they undergo soul-searching and examine their lives, all without abandoning his effective one-liners’ Publishers Weekly

‘There are crimes aplenty within the prison walls...but Stone is after something more diffuse and philosophical. The Prison Minyan occupies terrain few others will likely explore’ New York Times

‘A delicious treat. As good as any rugelach’ Tommy Schnurmacher

‘Warm, insightful, wise and very funny. Jonathan Stone has created a remarkably appealing community of prison inmates and staff. Quite brilliant’ Abi Silver

‘My book of this summer so far. Witty, original and acute, it shows there is more mileage yet in the Jewish novel’ Gaby Koppel

Paperback: 352pp

Published: Lightning (January 2022)

ISBN: 9781785632754