Books: Lion of Judah

SOLAL—Albert Cohen—Dutton ($2.40).

Publishers, like other advertisers, cry "Wolf! Wolf!" to a semi-attentive public. Their combined clamor is so deafening that it is hard to tell when one of them is really in earnest. Consequently, in those blue moons when they have something to shout about, a sharp-toothed masterpiece may slip undetected into the gentle reader's fold, cause much silent havoc before the alarm is given. Though Publisher Dutton has sounded no extra-special warning, Solal is such a masterpiece-in-sheep's-clothing. Wolf would be a misnomer: nothing so leonine has come down the pike in many a blue moon.

Though Jewry has given the world...