“Well written, compelling, fantasy/historical fiction encompassing themes including the nature and value of free will, lust for power/fear of death, and loyalty to family and community told via the astonishing tale of a golem and a Jinni who find themselves and each other in late 19th century New York city.” Barbara Safee Stouter Here is our joint review, compiled from our Likely Story Book Club discussion on Facebook:

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. Chava is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York harbor in 1899.Īhmad 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 freeĪhmad and Chava become unlikely friends and soul mates with a mystical connection. 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.Ĭhava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life to by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic and dies at sea on the voyage from Poland. Our debut pick for A Likely Story was The Golem and The Jinni by Helene Wecker.

A Likely Story is for those of us who revel in escapist fiction and long for more stories built in brilliant worlds with strong and flawed heroes and heroines Young Adult, Fantasy, Dystopian, Fairy Tale, Magical Realism, Legends, Mythologies, and Tall Tales of every type. Last month, we started our very own book club.

The golem and the jinni review