Solomon Gursky was Here

"Brimming with sardonic humor, antic imagination and bravura storytelling skill, Richler's fifth novel (after Joshua Was Here ) is an interlocking account of the outrageously bold and daring eponymous protagonist, and of his would-be biographer, brilliant but alcoholic Moses Berger, obsessed with discovering the mysteries of Solomon's life and--maybe--his death. Perhaps inspired by Canada's Bronfman family, Richler creates the three Gursky brothers, bootleggers turned liquor industry tycoons, who are descended from the legendary rapscallion, lecher and arctic explorer Ephraim Gursky. Ephraim's exploits--among other things, he was a survivor of Sir John Francis's ill-fated 1845 expedition to search for the Northwest Passage--are echoed in the adventures of his grandson Solomon, who fights with his treacherous brother Bernard for control of the burgeoning empire. Engrossed in his Gursky research, Moses abandons his once-promising career and endures the loss of the woman he loves." -Publisher Weekly ; The novel tells of several generations of the fictional Gursky family, who are connected to several disparate events in the history of Canada, including the Franklin Expedition and rum-running. Some fans and critics have cited this as Mordecai Richler's best book, and in terms of scope and style it is unmatched by his other works. The parallels between the Gursky family and the Bronfmans are such that the novel "may be seen as a thinly disguised account of the [Bronfman] family".[1] While Richler himself denied any similarities, "one longtime Bronfman associate put it, 'I don't know why Mordecai bothered to change the names.' - Literary Review of Canada, September 2006.