daniel handel
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
― Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning
All About Me
Dan Handel, MD, is a distinguished physician executive and Chief Medical Officer. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biological Anthropology from Northwestern University, where he graduated cum laude with departmental honors. Dr. Handel’s extensive medical career includes leading major healthcare systems in North Carolina, Indiana, and South Carolina, as well as serving as a flight physician and emergency medicine expert.
In addition to publishing a definitive textbook on healthcare leadership and over 50 peer-reviewed academic works, Dr. Handel brings his analytical rigor and anthropological background to the world of historical fiction. His debut novel, Into the Lion’s Den, reflects his fascination with complex social structures and the personal costs of historical upheaval. He lives in North Carolina with his family.
My HP Books
Into the Lion’s Den is set against the brutal realities of the Mau Mau rebellion in colonial Kenya.
Told through the voice of Simon Jackson Payne—a biracial man caught between British privilege and African heritage—the story unfolds as Simon stands trial in London in 1957, accused of treason by the very empire he served.
From his upbringing on a Kenyan coffee farm to elite schools in Nairobi and London, Simon straddles two worlds but fully belongs to neither. Denied an officer’s commission because of his skin color, he fights in World War II as a sergeant in Burma, only to return home to a country unraveling. Recruited to infiltrate the Mau Mau, Simon is forced into moral compromises that culminate in an unforgivable act—one that will haunt him long after the rebellion is crushed.
As political expediency turns him into a scapegoat, Simon’s trial exposes how race, loyalty, and power collide within the machinery of empire. Into the Lion’s Den is a haunting exploration of identity, betrayal, and the devastating cost of survival when history demands a pawn.
