Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Levine Querido (2022), 400 pages
Description
"Uriel the angel and Little Ash (short for Ashmedai) are the only two supernatural creatures in their shtetl (which is so tiny, it doesn't have a name other than Shetl). The angel and the demon have been studying together for centuries, but pogroms and the search for a new life have drawn all the young people from their village to America. When one of those young people, Essie, goes missing. Uriel and Little Ash set off to find her. Along the way the angel and demon encounter humans in need of their help, including Rose Cohen, whose best friend (and the love of her life) has abandoned her to marry a man, and Malke Shulman, whose father died mysteriously on his way to America. But there are obstacles ahead of them as difficult as what they've left behind. Medical exams (and demons) at Ellis Island. Corrupt officials, cruel mob bosses, murderers, poverty. The streets are far from paved with gold. With cinematic sweep and tender observation, Sacha Lamb presents a totally original drama about individual purpose, the fluid nature of identity, and the power of love to change and endure."--… (more)
Media reviews
Simultaneously an exploration of personal identity and the relationship between good and evil, this expansive tale, interpreted through both the Talmud and Jewish folklore, follows Little Ash and the angel’s experiences leaving behind everything they’ve ever known. Broad in scope, the strong
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queer relationships at its core, particularly between Little Ash and the angel, provide an unfaltering anchor. Via a literary third-person point of view, Lamb admirably utilizes a familiar arc of early 20th-century emigration as the foundation of this powerfully moving tale. A Yiddish and Hebrew glossary concludes. Show Less
Richly imagined and plotted, this inspired book has the timeless feeling of Jewish folklore, which is further enhanced by the presence of two magical protagonists, and not one but two dybbuks! In the end, of course, it’s the author who has performed the mitzvah by giving their readers this
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terrific debut novel. Show Less
Steeped in Ashkenazi lore, custom, and faith, this beautifully written story deftly tackles questions of identity, good and evil, obligation, and the many forms love can take. Queerness and gender fluidity thread through both the human and supernatural characters, clearly depicted without feeling
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anachronistic. A generous peppering of nonitalicized Yiddish and Hebrew (with a glossary in the back) combined with culturally specific dialogue and turns of phrase make this read like a classic while still feeling fresh and contemporary. Show Less
Awards
Mythopoeic Awards (Finalist — Adult Literature — 2023)
Sydney Taylor Book Award (Winner — Young Adult — 2023)
BCCB Blue Ribbon Book (Fiction — 2022)
National Jewish Book Award (Finalist — Young Adult Literature — 2022)
Stonewall Book Award (Winner — 2023)
Printz Award (Honor — 2023)
ALA Rainbow Book List (Selection — 2023)
North Star YA Award (Nominee — 2024)
New England Book Award (Finalist — Young Adult — 2023)
NPR: Books We Love (2022)
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 2024)
CCBC Choices (2023)
New York Public Library Best Books: For Teens (Fiction — 2022)
Great Books for Kids (2023)
Language
User reviews
LibraryThing member bell7
An angel whose name changes as it finds appropriate and a demon, Ashmodei (Little Ash for short), have studied together in a small shtetl for centuries. When they learn that Essie, the baker's daughter, has gone to America and they haven't heard from her, Ash convinces his friend the angel to go
This is charming story steeped in Jewish culture, and just a fantastic overall read. This is Lamb's debut and they write with an assurance of a much more established writer. I loved the world and the characters, and found the ending satisfying. It's marketed as young adult fiction, but other than the fact that one of the characters is about sixteen, there's no particular reason adults shouldn't get just as much out of it.
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and find her as a mitzvah. Along the way, they meet up with Rose, and make the treacherous crossing along with other immigrants to Ellis Island.This is charming story steeped in Jewish culture, and just a fantastic overall read. This is Lamb's debut and they write with an assurance of a much more established writer. I loved the world and the characters, and found the ending satisfying. It's marketed as young adult fiction, but other than the fact that one of the characters is about sixteen, there's no particular reason adults shouldn't get just as much out of it.
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LibraryThing member foggidawn
If you go the the synagogue in the shtetl that's so small and out of the way that it's only called Shtetl and look in the back corner by the door, you might see an angel and a demon studying the Talmud together. Or at least you would have until Essie, the baker's daughter, left for America and
If Sholem Aleichem were to write a young adult novel, it might be something like this. I was also put in mind of The Golem and the Jinni just a little bit. I found this a delightful read with great characters and dialogue. If I had one criticism, it would be that things pulled together very neatly in the end, but this is a YA book after all, and it's not like I don't want these characters to have a happy ending. If you like coming to America stories with a touch of magic, then you won't want to miss this book.
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caused her family great worry by not replying to their letters. Little Ash, the demon, sees an opportunity to travel to a new place and cause mischief along the way, and convinces the Angel that it is their duty (not to mention a mitzvah) to go after Essie, as she is a member of their community and could be in mortal danger. On the trip to America, they cross paths with Rose, a strong-minded young woman who is also off to America for a better life. The journey will change all of them as their stories converge in new and unexpected ways.If Sholem Aleichem were to write a young adult novel, it might be something like this. I was also put in mind of The Golem and the Jinni just a little bit. I found this a delightful read with great characters and dialogue. If I had one criticism, it would be that things pulled together very neatly in the end, but this is a YA book after all, and it's not like I don't want these characters to have a happy ending. If you like coming to America stories with a touch of magic, then you won't want to miss this book.
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LibraryThing member Salsabrarian
Narrated by Donald Corren. Literally lifelong friends, Little Ash the demon and the Angel travel to New York City from Poland to help find Essie, the baker's daughter. Along the way, they have all sorts of enduring encounters, such as with a scamming rabbi, an old rabbi's ghost, a demon who's a
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doctor on Ellis Island, and a New York City factory boss with financial troubles and no concern for his workers. The two also find themselves involved in helping the Jewish immigrants there with issues of labor justice and poverty. Corren's delightful audio interpretation captures every nuance of humor and tenderness, especially the devoted connection of two unlikely friends. And his Yiddish sounds authentic. I'm kvelling! Show Less
LibraryThing member quondame
From the smallest nameless Shtetl in the pale, and angel and demon who've been companions for centuries journey to the U.S. to aid a young woman from the settlement. In Warsaw they encounter the ghost of a rabbi from a nearby town and a young woman of that town and continue on finding out much
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about humans and themselves. I found it intermittently interesting and amusing, but a bit uneven. Show Less
LibraryThing member lilithcat
“In the back corner of the little synagogue in the shtetl that was so small and out of the way it was only called Shtetl, there was a table where an angel and a demon had been studying Talmud together for some two hundred years.”
How could one resist an opening like that? The angel and its
I really loved this book, a story of immigration from the Pale of Settlement with magic mixed in. I don’t know why it’s marketed as a “Teen” or Young Adult novel.
How could one resist an opening like that? The angel and its
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chavrusa, Ashmodei, end up heading to America to find a girl from Shtetl who has gone missing on her way to New York. They are joined by Rose, whose best friend has abandoned her for marriage.I really loved this book, a story of immigration from the Pale of Settlement with magic mixed in. I don’t know why it’s marketed as a “Teen” or Young Adult novel.
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LibraryThing member fionaanne
Unconventionally charming. I love the concept and the execution was soft, gentle. Plot-wise, it's fairly predictable but the characters are not. Definitely will be reading Lamb's future efforts.
LibraryThing member richardderus
A 2022 New York Public Library Best Young Adult book!, winner of a 2023 Stonewall Book Award for Children’s & Young Adult Literature, winner of a 2023 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature, winner of a 2023 Sydney Taylor Book Award for Young Adult
The Publisher Says: A queer immigrant
Uriel the angel and Little Ash (short for Ashmedai) are the only two supernatural creatures in their shtetl (which is so tiny, it doesn't have a name other than Shtetl). The angel and the demon have been studying together for centuries, but pogroms and the search for a new life have drawn all the young people from their village to America. When one of those young emigrants goes missing, Uriel and Little Ash set off to find her.
Along the way the angel and demon encounter humans in need of their help, including Rose Cohen, whose best friend (and the love of her life) has abandoned her to marry a man, and Malke Shulman, whose father died mysteriously on his way to America. But there are obstacles ahead of them as difficult as what they’ve left behind. Medical exams (and demons) at Ellis Island. Corrupt officials, cruel mob bosses, murderers, poverty. The streets are far from paved with gold.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: Multiple awards and honors and nominations later, it's very clear that the Industry recognized this story as one that has a lot to say, and a very winning way of saying it. The publisher tells us it's got a very Good Omens vibe...true enough, but don't expect Aziraphael and Crowley's intimate dynamic here. Like Good Omens there is an omniscient narrator, well used to keep us on the track of our angel and demon as they set about trying to right the wrongs "their" humans, the ones from the shtetl they've adopted as their home, endure.
Here I pause to mention something that could impact your readerly pleasure. There is a lot of Yiddish used in the story, which for the time and place is absolutely correct. It isn't translated, and at times the word or concept isn't entirely obvious from context only. I recommend that you have the browser open on some device, if you're reading a tree-book, to look up the words you don't think you've got right in your mind's eye. Ebooks usually have adequate dictionary access to tell you what you need to know if it isn't in the provided glossary. I myownself wasn't thrown by this but as anyone who's not here for the first time knows, I'm weird.
Rose is our main human character, a young woman just coming to terms with her lesbian identity. The early twentieth century was a lousy time to be a woman, let alone one who loved other women! Her best friend and love object has just gone away to the Lower East Side of Manhattan to marry a man, as is expected of any frum young woman in that place and time. Our supernatural entities are, for a contrast to everyone else, utterly unfazed by Rose's love for Dinah. They know their purpose is to help Rose (among others) get to the New World and take her shot with Dinah...if it can work out, as she's got this impending marriage thing....
Assisting a dead rabbi's ghost in finding his daughter so she can mourn him properly and thus prevent him fom entering awful dybbukhood, dispensing social justice to exploitive sweatshop owners, not to mention greedy steerage-selling profiteers gouging their fellow Jews out of the last tiny hint of savings, the evil christian supernaturals posing as immigration doctors to prevent Jews from entering the US...all this and more must be taken into righteousness before our supernatural duo can go back to Torah study and peace in Shtetl.
I genuinely think the playfulness of Author Lamb's imagination makes the difficult and unfair nature of the issues to be surmounted less unhappy than it would be in less amusing hands. I know the entire time Rose shows a brave face to the world, where we-the-readers know she's completely terrified but too outraged to let whatever it is pass unchallenged is the kind of message I want to send to all young women. Especially young Jewish women in the rising anti-semitic culture we've allowed to metastasize. It's a good read as a fantasy novel for adults, too; the Mythopoeic Society doesn't pass out their accolades with a shovel.
I can't go with a perfect rating because there are points towards the end that just go on too long. The pace overall is never breakneck, or really even brisk. The aforementioned Yiddish-language heavy text does wear on the Anglophone inner ear after a while. All that said, I still think this is a great Booksgiving choice for your thirteen-and-up nieces who enjoyed Good Omens.
And yourownselves, of course, why should those little pishers have all the fun?
The Publisher Says: A queer immigrant
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fairytale about individual purpose, the fluid nature of identity, and the power of love to change and endure.Uriel the angel and Little Ash (short for Ashmedai) are the only two supernatural creatures in their shtetl (which is so tiny, it doesn't have a name other than Shtetl). The angel and the demon have been studying together for centuries, but pogroms and the search for a new life have drawn all the young people from their village to America. When one of those young emigrants goes missing, Uriel and Little Ash set off to find her.
Along the way the angel and demon encounter humans in need of their help, including Rose Cohen, whose best friend (and the love of her life) has abandoned her to marry a man, and Malke Shulman, whose father died mysteriously on his way to America. But there are obstacles ahead of them as difficult as what they’ve left behind. Medical exams (and demons) at Ellis Island. Corrupt officials, cruel mob bosses, murderers, poverty. The streets are far from paved with gold.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: Multiple awards and honors and nominations later, it's very clear that the Industry recognized this story as one that has a lot to say, and a very winning way of saying it. The publisher tells us it's got a very Good Omens vibe...true enough, but don't expect Aziraphael and Crowley's intimate dynamic here. Like Good Omens there is an omniscient narrator, well used to keep us on the track of our angel and demon as they set about trying to right the wrongs "their" humans, the ones from the shtetl they've adopted as their home, endure.
Here I pause to mention something that could impact your readerly pleasure. There is a lot of Yiddish used in the story, which for the time and place is absolutely correct. It isn't translated, and at times the word or concept isn't entirely obvious from context only. I recommend that you have the browser open on some device, if you're reading a tree-book, to look up the words you don't think you've got right in your mind's eye. Ebooks usually have adequate dictionary access to tell you what you need to know if it isn't in the provided glossary. I myownself wasn't thrown by this but as anyone who's not here for the first time knows, I'm weird.
Rose is our main human character, a young woman just coming to terms with her lesbian identity. The early twentieth century was a lousy time to be a woman, let alone one who loved other women! Her best friend and love object has just gone away to the Lower East Side of Manhattan to marry a man, as is expected of any frum young woman in that place and time. Our supernatural entities are, for a contrast to everyone else, utterly unfazed by Rose's love for Dinah. They know their purpose is to help Rose (among others) get to the New World and take her shot with Dinah...if it can work out, as she's got this impending marriage thing....
Assisting a dead rabbi's ghost in finding his daughter so she can mourn him properly and thus prevent him fom entering awful dybbukhood, dispensing social justice to exploitive sweatshop owners, not to mention greedy steerage-selling profiteers gouging their fellow Jews out of the last tiny hint of savings, the evil christian supernaturals posing as immigration doctors to prevent Jews from entering the US...all this and more must be taken into righteousness before our supernatural duo can go back to Torah study and peace in Shtetl.
I genuinely think the playfulness of Author Lamb's imagination makes the difficult and unfair nature of the issues to be surmounted less unhappy than it would be in less amusing hands. I know the entire time Rose shows a brave face to the world, where we-the-readers know she's completely terrified but too outraged to let whatever it is pass unchallenged is the kind of message I want to send to all young women. Especially young Jewish women in the rising anti-semitic culture we've allowed to metastasize. It's a good read as a fantasy novel for adults, too; the Mythopoeic Society doesn't pass out their accolades with a shovel.
I can't go with a perfect rating because there are points towards the end that just go on too long. The pace overall is never breakneck, or really even brisk. The aforementioned Yiddish-language heavy text does wear on the Anglophone inner ear after a while. All that said, I still think this is a great Booksgiving choice for your thirteen-and-up nieces who enjoyed Good Omens.
And yourownselves, of course, why should those little pishers have all the fun?
Show Less
LibraryThing member rivkat
For fans of kind fantasy. The angel and demon of Shtetl—too small to have a name—go to America to check on the welfare of an emigrant young woman. They find far more than they were expecting, including the angel’s experimentations with human form. It’s just wonderful, steeped in Judaism and
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full of energy and kindness, even though exploitative relations and danger are also present. Show Less
ISBN
1646141768 / 9781646141760