The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker

Book Blurb
Chava is a golem, a woman made of clay, who can hear the thoughts and longings of those around her and feels compelled by her nature to help them. Ahmad is a jinni, a restless creature of fire, once free to roam the desert but now imprisoned in the shape of a man. Fearing they’ll be exposed as monsters, these magical beings hide their true selves and try to pass as human—just two more immigrants in the bustling world of 1900s Manhattan. Brought together under calamitous circumstances, their lives are now entwined—but they’re not yet certain of what they mean to each other.

Both Chava and Ahmad have changed the lives of the people around them. Park Avenue heiress Sophia Winston, whose brief encounter with Ahmad left her with a strange illness that makes her shiver with cold, travels to the Middle East to seek a cure. There she meets Dima, a tempestuous female jinni who’s been banished from her tribe. 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 and protector.

Spanning the tumultuous years from the turn of the twentieth century to the beginning of World War I, The Hidden Palace follows these lives and others as they collide and interleave. Can Chava and Ahmad find their places in the human world while remaining true to each other? Or will their opposing natures and desires eventually tear them apart—especially once they encounter, thrillingly, other beings like themselves?

My Review

Earlier in the year I reviewed The Golem and the Djinn and absolutely fell in love with the characters so I was really excited to finally read it’s sequel The Hidden Palace. This book continues straight on from the ending of The Golem and the Djinn after Ahmed returns from his homeland to New York and Chava.

There is always the pressure with a sequel to live up to the high standards of the first book, and this did. Helene Wecker had set this book from 1900-1915, leading up to the First World War and taking in some of the big innovations of the early twentieth century; cars, the building of the subways, the telephone, advancement in architecture and the Titanic. It was fascinating to see how Ahmed and Chava reacted to these changes and how they influenced Ahmad’s work with metals.

Helene Wecker uses this book to look at the problems that Ahmed and Chava face as a Djinn and a Golem. Whilst time moves on they don’t age so sacrifices have to be made. It is Chava who faces the hardest challenge in having to give up the job in the bakery when comments are made about her not aging. In typical Chava style though she learns a new skill and gets a job as a teacher. I really enjoyed watching Chava adapt to a new life, and also meeting the challenge of a new Golem under the control of one of her students. Ahmed also faces new challenges that send him in a different direction. He feels grief for the first time and has to deal with another djinn who has travelled from the East to see the famous djinn who is bound by iron.

There are many layers to this book, not just the story of Ahmed and Chava but others from the first book as well. The one I loved reading about the most about was Sophia who was constantly cold after a relationship with Ahmed. She travelled the Middle East looking for a cure and had some amazing adventures. Many regulars from the first book also return and there is also the story of Kreindel, a young daughter of a Rabbi and a student of Chava’s, alone in the world except or her own Golem.

Helene Wecker has created not only some amazing and interesting characters but also a wonderful storyline. There is a lot of emotion in this book as through the characters the themes of what it is to love and be loved are explored. The writing, as in the first book is sublime and full of details that make this such a beautiful book to read. The different layers and stories weave together to ultimately make for an immersive and entertaining reading experience.

I can’t recommend The Hidden Palace and in fact The Golem and the Djinn highly enough. The characters of Ahmed and Chava really do make these books special. They are ‘other’ but in a human world trying to fit in and you can’t help but take them to your heart. Beautifully written these books are really special and I would love to read more, so I hope Helene Wecker writes a third book.