First published 2026
Chava the golem tends her Brooklyn garden in 1930, three decades after Ahmad the jinni buried the wizard Schaalman in a copper flask deep in the Syrian desert. She dreams of creating a sanctuary for magical beings like herself. Ahmad works as an architect in Chicago, designing the city's soaring towers. But Schaalman has escaped his desert prison by tricking a passerby into unearthing the flask. The wizard jumps from body to body, possessing first a French soldier bound for New York, then a petty criminal, all while hunting Chava. She alone can free him from the flask that still confines him. The 1929 stock market crash sends Ahmad back to New York without work. Thomas Beshara, a mysterious riveter building the Empire State Building, arrives with secret connections to both Chava and Ahmad. Kreindel Altschul still mourns her destroyed golem Yossele and may hold the only key to stopping Schaalman's revenge. The wizard seeks to bind Chava to his service and enslave Ahmad once more. The final confrontation will determine whether they can destroy Schaalman forever or fall under his control.
Genres: 20th-century, fantasy, adult-fiction, magical-realism, historical-fantasy
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, epic, haunting, lyrical, suspenseful
Tropes: ancient-evil-returns, body-possession, found-family, sanctuary-building
Setting: Brooklyn, Chicago, Syrian Desert, New York, Empire State Building
Period: 1930s, 1929 Stock Market Crash, 20th Century
464 pages · Hardcover · Harper
Content warnings: death, violence