Throughout, Wecker pulls off an impressive juggling act with the many characters, all of whom are well positioned for another sequel. Whereas the first installment was a propulsive battle of good versus evil, this delightful entry is more serialized storytelling à la Dickens. New characters, including another golem and a young female jinniyeh, and historical touchstones such as the sinking of the Titanic, drive the plot. Chava then enrolls at Teachers College, and Ahmad throws himself into his work as a metalsmith, holing up in a downtown building to create a mysterious masterpiece. For Chava and Ahmad, their opposite natures both attract and repel, dooming the relationship. Back in New York, in a tenement on the Lower East Side, a little girl named Kreindel helps her rabbi father build a golem they name Yossele-not knowing that she's about to be sent to an orphanage uptown, where the hulking Yossele will become her only friend. Toby, the young son of Chava’s former co-worker Anna Blumberg, was only present in utero during the climactic events of the first book, and now has questions about Anna’s past. There she meets Dima, a tempestuous female jinni who's been banished from her tribe. Meanwhile, heiress Sophia Winston travels incognito to the Middle East seeking a cure to her chills, a remnant of her own brief romance with Ahmad. Soon, their nighttime walks lead to romance. Golem Chava Levy and jinni Ahmad al-Hadid renew their friendship in 1900 upon Ahmad’s return to New York City. Wecker delivers a satisfying, mature sequel to The Golem and the Jinni, continuing the magical story of two immigrant mythological characters from the turn of the 20th century to the outbreak of WWI.
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