When the Angels Left the Old Country

Starred review from October 17, 2022
An angel and a demon have studied the Talmud together for centuries in a village “so small and out of the way it was only called Shtetl.” Pogroms have caused fellow villagers to make the trek to America, which “had all kinds of wonderful things.” Looking for entertainment, Ashmedai the demon, known as Little Ash, persuades the angel, whose name changes depending on the situation, into making a voyage to N.Y.C., where the labor movement has just begun. Traveling from Shtetl to Ellis Island, they befriend heartbroken Rose Cohen, 16, who fled her own shtetl following the love of her life and best friend Dinah’s marriage to a man. Simultaneously an exploration of personal identity and the relationship between good and evil, this expansive tale, interpreted through both the Talmud and Jewish folklore, follows Little Ash and the angel’s experiences leaving behind everything they’ve ever known. Broad in scope, the strong queer relationships at its core, particularly between Little Ash and the angel, provide an unfaltering anchor. Via a literary third-person point of view, Lamb admirably utilizes a familiar arc of early 20th-century emigration as the foundation of this powerfully moving tale. A Yiddish and Hebrew glossary concludes. Ages 12–up.