Odessa

Sher sets her spellbinding debut in 1905 Odessa, where pogroms have torn apart the Jewish community. Mordechai works alongside his rabbi to build weapons and study the magic of Kabbalah to prepare for the next attack. Meanwhile, Yetta, his daughter, prepares for marriage to the man she loves, though her free spirit pulls her beyond her community’s walls. When Yetta is killed during one of the attacks, Mordechai uses Kabbalah to make a golem identical to her and fuse her spirit into its clay. He keeps the truth of her death a secret from the rest of the family and the revived Yetta herself, now a living weapon for her community. As Yetta struggles to understand what happened to her, Mordechai hopes to use her to enact revenge against their gentile attackers. But another monster has awoken in response to Mordechai’s magic, and Yetta will have to confront—or embrace—all her dark parts to save herself and her family. Sher’s straightforward prose packs a punch and she doesn’t shy away from the realities of Jewish oppression, balancing the novel’s more gruesome elements with the palpable love that bonds the community together. The result is a tender and gutting showstopper. Agent: Grainne Fox, UTA. (Apr.)