Tales of
THE GOLEM & THE JINNI
“Wecker has blended not only genres but also elements of Jewish and Arab folklore and mythology in this intriguing historical fantasy.”
It’s Finally Here!
THE HIDDEN PALACE
In this enthralling historical epic, set in New York City and the Middle East in the years leading to World War I— the long-awaited follow-up to the acclaimed New York Times bestseller The Golem and the Jinni—Helene Wecker revisits her beloved characters Chava and Ahmad as they confront unexpected new challenges in a rapidly changing human world.
Chava is a golem, a woman made of clay, able to hear the thoughts and longings of the people around her and compelled by her nature to help them. Ahmad is a jinni, a perpetually restless and free-spirited creature of fire, imprisoned in the shape of a man. Fearing they’ll be exposed as monsters, these magical beings hide their true selves and pretend to be human—just two more immigrants in the bustling world of 1900s Manhattan. Having encountered each other under calamitous circumstances, Chava and Ahmad’s lives are now entwined—but they’re not yet certain of what they mean to each other.
Each has unwittingly affected the humans around them. Park Avenue heiress Sophia Winston, whose brief encounter with Ahmad left her with a strange illness that makes her shiver with cold, travels to the Middle East to seek a cure. There she meets a tempestuous female jinni who’s been banished from her tribe. Back in New York, in a tenement on the Lower East Side, a little girl named Kreindel helps her rabbi father build a golem they name Yossele—not knowing that she’s about to be sent to an orphanage uptown, where the hulking Yossele will become her only friend and protector.
Spanning the tumultuous years from the turn of the twentieth century to the beginning of World War I, The Hidden Palace follows these lives and others as they collide and interleave. Can Chava and Ahmad find their places in the human world while remaining true to each other? Or will their opposing natures and desires eventually tear them apart—especially once they encounter, thrillingly, other beings like themselves?
Advance Praise for The Hidden Palace
“Eight years after The Golem and the Jinni, Wecker recounts the continuing adventures of Chava, the Jewish golem, and Ahmad, the Arabian jinni, with a sequel that brings the saga into the 20th century... .A blend of romance, Mary Shelley–esque horror, and folklore... Wecker skillfully combines the storylines of these and numerous other players, good and evil.”
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THE GOLEM AND THE JINNI
2014 Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature winner ✦ 2014 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award winner ✦ 2014 Harold U. Ribalow Prize winner ✦ 2014 Nebula Award for Best Novel nominee ✦ 2014 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel nominee ✦ 2013 James Tiptree, Jr. Award finalist
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 to serve as a wife for a Polish emigre who then dies at sea on the voyage to America. Chava is left unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York Harbor in 1899.
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.
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“Wecker begins with a juicy premise…and great adventures ensue…She writes skillfully, nicely evoking the layers of alienness that fall upon strangers in a strange land.”
“In the best instances, you don’t merely read a book—you dive in and happily immerse yourself, forgetting the troubles of daily life for a while. The Golem and the Jinni offers just such an absorbing experience.”
“Magical thinking comes alive in an enchanting allegory of the immigrant experience as two mythical beings try to make sense of themselves and the world around them.”
“The premise is so fresh...A mystical and highly original stroll through the sidewalks of New York.”
“Wecker deftly layers their story over those of the people they encounter...[A] spellbinding blend of fantasy and historical fiction.”
“Original and fresh…A fascinating blend of historical fiction and Jewish and Arab folklore”
