Cover of The Golem and the Jinni

The Golem and the Jinni

Book 1 of The Golem and the Jinni series

In The Golem and the Jinni, a chance meeting between mythical beings takes readers on a dazzling journey through cultures in turn-of-the-century New York.

Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic and dies at sea on the voyage from Poland. Chava is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York harbor in 1899.

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Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire born in the ancient Syrian desert, trapped in an old copper flask, and released in New York City, though still not entirely free.

Ahmad and Chava become unlikely friends and soul mates with a mystical connection. Marvelous and compulsively readable, Helene Wecker's debut novel The Golem and the Jinni weaves strands of Yiddish and Middle Eastern literature, historical fiction and magical fable, into a wondrously inventive and unforgettable tale.

Genre
fantasyhistorical fictionmagical realismurban fantasyfolklore
Themes
jewishreligionimmigration
Setting
19th centurynew yorknew york citymiddle east
Subject
history
Audience
adultyoung adult
Length
long · 486 pages

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