The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

The Forbidden Book by Sacha Lamb Levine Querido, 2024 Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Beth Gallego Buy at Bookshop.org Lamb’s sophomore novel (after 2023 Sydney Taylor Award-winner When the Angels Left the Old Country) is a fascinating dive into Jewish mythology and life in the Pale of Settlement. Sorel Kalmans, daughter of a well-to-do lumber merchant, is seventeen and engaged to the eldest son of the Esroger Rebbe. The marriage is meant to unite the local Jews, both Hasidic and Maskilic. The night before the wedding, Sorel makes an impulsive decision to run away instead. She disguises herself as a young man and gives her name as Isser Jacobs. But there is a real Isser Jacobs, and he is in serious trouble with some very dangerous people. In addition to escaping her own life, Sorel also must solve the mystery of what has happened to Isser and why. Sorel has led a sheltered life, protected by her father’s wealth and power. Her education has not prepared her for the reality of life in Es

When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb Levine Querido, 2022 Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Beth L. Gallego Buy at Bookshop.org With its bookish, slightly absent-minded angel and clever, mischief-loving demon, the best of friends since time immemorial, this debut fantasy has immediate appeal for fans of Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, but with a thoroughly Jewish perspective. Lamb’s immersive world is infused with Yiddish folklore and Jewish culture. Little Ash, the wingless demon with limited magical ability, is more properly a sheyd, closer to a mischievous fairy. He serves as interpreter for the angel, who only understands Hebrew and Aramaic. Both beings appear to humans as young Jewish men, partners in Talmudic study, their supernatural features unnoticed by all but some children and the most perceptive of adults. After centuries in the tiny community of Shtetl, the pair set out for the “Golden Land” of America. Their mission is to find the baker’s dau