Helene Wecker

The Golem and the Djinni


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      HELENE WECKER

      Copyright

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      The Borough Press

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

      www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2013

      Copyright © Helene Wecker 2013

      Helene Wecker asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      Source ISBN: 9780007480173

      Ebook Edition © 2013 ISBN: 9780007480180

      Version: 2017-05-09

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      About the Book

       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 …

      Praise for The Golem and The Djinni

      ‘Set against the vivid backdrop of New York City’s immigrant neighbourhoods in the late 19th century, Helene Wecker’s tale of two fabled creatures has the intimate feel of a story handed down from generation to generation. With a delightful blend of the prosaic and the fanciful, The Golem and The Djinni explores what it means to be human as Chava and Ahmad struggle to live and find love while overcoming the powerful adversary who threatens to destroy them’

      Deborah Harkness, author of A Discovery of Witches

      ‘An astonishing debut novel that sweeps us into a gaslit alternate reality rich enough to get lost in – a vision of fin de siècle 19th century New York as a city that had all the world’s immigrants descending on it, including supernatural ones … It is Helene Wecker's triumph that these supernatural beings – one made of fire, the other of clay – seem as real and as poignant in their struggles for love and belonging as any of their fellow human immigrants, until together they face a villain of truly monstrous proportions’

      Tom Reiss, author of The Orientalist and The Black Count

       For Kareem

      Table of Contents

       Title Page

       Copyright

       About the Book

       Praise for The Golem and The Djinni

       Dedication

       Chapter 1

       Chapter 2

       Chapter 3

       Chapter 4

       Chapter 5

       Chapter 6

       Chapter 7

       Chapter 8

       Chapter 9

       Chapter 10

       Chapter 11

       Chapter 12

       Chapter 13

       Chapter 14

       Chapter 15

       Chapter 16

       Chapter 17

       Chapter 18

       Chapter 19

       Chapter 20

       Chapter 21

       Chapter 22

       Chapter