The Golem and the Djinni

ISBN-13: 9780007480197 / Angielski / Miękka / 2013 / 656 str.

Helene Wecker

Opis

New York, 1899. Two strangers, one destiny. Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic. When her master, the husband who commissioned her, dies at sea on the voyage from Poland, she is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York in 1899. Ahmad is a djinni, a being of fire, born in the ancient Syrian desert. Trapped in an old copper flask by a Bedouin wizard centuries ago, he is released accidentally by a tinsmith in a Lower Manhattan shop. Though he is no longer imprisoned, Ahmad is not entirely free - an unbreakable band of iron binds him to the physical world. The Golem & The Djinni is their magical, unforgettable story; unlikely friends whose tenuous attachment challenges their opposing natures - until the night a terrifying incident drives them back into their separate worlds. But a powerful threat will soon bring Chava and Ahmad together again, challenging their existence and forcing them to make a fateful choice.

Recenzje

'By far my favourite book of of the year ... There isn't a wasted word, poorly considered paragraph or a single chapter in this high-concept fairytale that doesn't deliver some new enchantment' Damien Walter, Guardian

'The Golem and The Djinni has the detailed realism of historical fiction, the haunting feel of a folk tale, and is one of only two novels I've ever loved whose main characters are not human' Barbara Kingsolver

'The author makes you care enough about the humanity of these magical spirits to not only see them through to the end but also to regret that you've reached the last page' New York Times

'A continuous delight - provocative, atmospheric, and superbly paced' Boston Globe

'The Golem and The Djinni are among my favourite fictional people' Washington Post

O autorze

Helene Wecker grew up near Chicago, and received her MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University in New York. Her work has been published in the online magazine Joyland, and she has read from her stories at the KGB Bar in New York and the Barbershop Reading Series in San Francisco. After a dozen years of moving around between both coasts and the Midwest, she now lives near San Francisco with her husband and daughter. The Golem and the Djinni is her first novel.