Why did Charlie love this book?
This historical fantasy absolutely charmed me from start to finish! Unapologetically queer and steeped in Jewish history and culture, the story follows Uriel the angel and Ashmedai (a.k.a. Little Ash), the demon, who've been meeting up for centuries to study the Talmud in a tiny shtetl in turn-of-the-century Poland.
When a young woman who recently left for New York fails to write back to her family as promised, the pair decide to journey to America to support their community—or, in Little Ash's case, explore new avenues of mischief. I adored Lamb's exploration of Uriel and Little Ash's inherent genderqueerness as non-human characters and the running theme of "What does it mean to be human, anyway?"
In this respect, as well as tone and setting, I was pleasantly reminded of Helene Wecker's The Golem and the Jinni—so if you enjoyed that one, I'd highly recommend you check out this…
3 authors picked When the Angels Left the Old Country as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.
In publishing-speak, here's what we at the LQ office sometimes describe as the Queer lovechild of Sholem Aleichem and Philip Roth:
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 Talmud together for centuries, but pogroms and the search for a new life have drawn the young people from their village to America. And suddenly a murder forces the study partners to follow them.
Traveling through Warsaw and Hamburg, Uriel and…