It is great to be back at school after winter break. I personally had a wonderful time spending time with my family and friends during the holiday season. We celebrated Christmas, and I was bombarded with books, which I hope to review throughout this semester. But the other reason I love winter break so much is because it’s one of the two times a year that my local library raises funds by hosting a countywide book fair. Throughout the year, they accept old books as donations, and once they have enough, they put all of them in a large barn wall-to-wall, and the entire community comes out to buy books at a discount. The entire event lasts three days, and on the first day, you pay around $5 a book; on the second day, you pay $1-3 per book, but on the final and most wonderful day, you pay $3 per pound of books. The entire thing is run by librarians and volunteers to raise money for all our library’s programs and this year I got a real treat on the second day.
I highly recommend Sacha Lamb’s When the Angels Left the Old Country, a Jewish fairytale-esque historical fiction novel set in the 1800s about a demon and an angel who immigrated to America to find a human girl from their village who has gone missing in America, and into hijinks along the way. A lot of the charm comes from the narrative voice, which I found to be similar to Good Omens, but that is, of course, a personal preference. It is also a story about the human girl, Rose, and her struggles with her sexuality and adjusting to an entirely new culture. The narrative expertly balances having three main characters while having an enamoring cast of characters in the background.
I think what drew me personally to this book may have to do with my own family. I was raised Catholic, but large swathes of my extended family are Jewish. And for whatever reason the compromise in a family with two different faiths has just been to blend everything together. Everyone came together to celebrate Christmas this year, but I am due to be at a Passover brunch this spring. When I cracked open When the Angels Left the Old Country to read while passing the time on Christmas Eve, my Grandfather asked me what I was reading and then launched into a lengthy explanation about how his grandparents came to the country. I think certain books speak to cultural memories that are passed down between generations. Because stories of having to leave your home for something better for yourself or your family live on because your own ancestors can appreciate your sacrifice, without this book, maybe I never would have had that conversation where I feel like I can understand something about myself and the world just a little bit better.
