The Golem and the Jinni: A Novel

· Sold by Harper Collins
4.4
223 reviews
Ebook
496
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

“An intoxicating fusion of fantasy and historical fiction. . . . Wecker’s storytelling skills dazzle." —Entertainment Weekly

A marvelous and absorbing debut novel about a chance meeting between two supernatural creatures in turn-of-the-century immigrant New York. 

Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay by a disgraced rabbi knowledgeable in the ways of dark Kabbalistic magic. She serves as the wife to a Polish merchant who dies at sea on the voyage to America. As the ship arrives in New York in 1899, Chava is unmoored and adrift until a rabbi on the Lower East Side recognizes her for the creature she is and takes her in.

Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire born in the ancient Syrian desert and trapped centuries ago in an old copper flask by a Bedouin wizard. Released by a Syrian tinsmith in a Manhattan shop, Ahmad appears in human form but is still not free. An iron band around his wrist binds him to the wizard and to the physical world.

Chava and Ahmad meet accidentally and become friends and soul mates despite their opposing natures. But when the golem’s violent nature overtakes her one evening, their bond is challenged. An even more powerful threat will emerge, however, and bring Chava and Ahmad together again, challenging their very existence and forcing them to make a fateful choice.

Compulsively readable, The Golem and the Jinni weaves strands of Yiddish and Middle Eastern literature, historical fiction and magical fable, in a wondrously inventive tale that is mesmerizing and unforgettable.

Ratings and reviews

4.4
223 reviews
Toni FGMAMTC
August 25, 2016
This is amazing writing. I have never read a story quite like it. It brings so much in to question, beliefs, faiths, religions, etc. It takes place during a time when people had to go between Europe and America by ship and women didn't go around unchaperoned. It mostly has a realistic feel with a few big exceptions. The two main characters aren't human. There are also magicians and such. It's pretty low on the low fantasy scale, but at the same time those fantastical elements are what the whole plot is about.
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Mary Anne McElmurray
August 9, 2018
We'll imagined story that weaves elements of friendship and love in a fresh setting between fresh characters. I loved the time the author spent developing the characters back stories- despite some reviewers stating it was overdone. I'm 2nd generation off the boat Lebanese and was impressed with the care Wecker takes with the cultural references...one set of my grandparents were even from Zahale! A good read especially if you like a bit of history with your fantasy.
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David Walker
October 24, 2013
A truly wonderful story of what it's like to 'find' yourself, through times of hardship and difficulty, to become something other than yourself to survive, and to find love and friendship in the most unexpected of all places. An exceptional book that had me wondering until the final pages how it would end.
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About the author

Helene Wecker received a BA from Carleton College in Minnesota and an MFA from Columbia University in New York. A Chicago-area native who has made her home in Minneapolis, Seattle, and New York, she now lives near San Francisco with her husband and daughter. The Golem and the Jinni is her first novel.

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