From Dust, a Flame - Hardcover

by Rebecca Podos (Author)

Rebecca Podos, Lambda Award-winning author of Like Water, returns with a contemporary Jewish fantasy of enduring love, unfathomable loss, and the power of stories to hold us together when it seems that nothing else can.

Hannah's whole life has been spent in motion. Her mother has kept her and her brother, Gabe, on the road for as long as she can remember, leaving a trail of rental homes and faded relationships behind them. No roots, no family but one another, and no explanations.

All that changes on Hannah's seventeenth birthday when she wakes up transformed, a pair of golden eyes with knife-slit pupils blinking back at her from the mirror--the first of many such impossible mutations. Promising that she knows someone who can help, her mother leaves Hannah and Gabe behind to find a cure. But as the days turn to weeks and their mother doesn't return, they realize it's up to them to find the truth.

What they discover is a family they never knew and a history more tragic and fantastical than Hannah could have dreamed--one that stretches back to her grandmother's childhood in Prague under the Nazi occupation, and beyond, into the realm of Jewish mysticism and legend. As the past comes crashing into the present, Hannah must hurry to unearth their family's secrets in order to break the curse and save the people she loves most, as well as herself.

But what happens when the secrets she uncovers are more monstrous than the curse itself?

• Jewish Fantasy: A rich, contemporary story steeped in Jewish history, mysticism, and legend, perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo and V.E. Schwab.
• Monstrous Transformations: On her seventeenth birthday, Hannah wakes up with golden, knife-slit pupils. It's only the first of many impossible changes that reveal a dark power coiled in her bloodline.
• Sapphic Slow Burn: As Hannah seeks answers in the strange town of Fox Hollow, she finds an unexpected connection with Ari, a girl who holds the key to her family's past and, just maybe, her future.
• Golems and Ancient Demons: To break the curse, Hannah must delve into a world of golems made from river clay and ancient shedim--monsters her grandmother fought generations ago in Prague.