Lamb, Sacha. When the Angels Left the Old Country. Levine Querido. 10/2022. 400pp. Fiction. GRADES 8 – Adult. OUTSTANDING. $19.99. 978-1-646-14176-0.
An angel, Uriel, and a demon, Little Ash, set out from their tiny shtetl to go to America. Along the way they make friends with a human, Rose, and face problems common to the Jewish immigrant experience in the early 20th century. The celebration of Jewishness in this book is one of its key strengths and shines through in Lamb’s descriptions. Lines like “coughing and pounding his chest like a penitent chanting the Ashamnu,” and “the scent of sheepskin and ink, like a Torah scroll,” anchor the book through the use of Jewish terms. The book also includes queer representation with Uriel and Rose. Uriel as an angel is a genderless being who uses it/its pronouns and wrestles with taking on a permanent name. Rose discovers her identity over the course of her journey and friendship with Uriel and Little Ash. A complicated yet joyful tale that features Jewish and queer experiences at its heart.
Lillian Whithaus — Temple Isaiah Library