Very clever setting and dialogue allowed you to fall in love with the characters. I like the divulging from traditional good and evil archetypes.

Thanks to Levine Querido and Netgalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In all honesty, I don't quite know what to say about this book? It isn't one that left me overflowing with things to say, etc etc. Instead, the book kind of crashed over me like a wave, and I was happy to just experience it. The prose had such a distinct + deft style in the way that it weaved through the perspectives of the characters, and also it had a manner of storytelling that felt both grounded and almost like a fairytale all at once.

Genuinely though, the care that went into these characters and this story is so apparent, and it was a book I'm going to be quietly mulling over for a bit.

This book tried too hard to sound like Good Omens, but instead, it felt infantilizing. It was also very, very repetitive. For example, it was explained for a couple of chapters why the characters need documents to leave the country and how they will forge them, only to have it explained all over again one chapter later. On a whole ass page. I think this could have been much shorter and more enjoyable having achieved that.

Every conversation about gender and identity was veeeery in your face, and nothing was ever subtle in this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Levine Querido for the advanced reader copy.

This week’s headline? Off to America

Why this book? The cover looks cool and synopsis is interesting

Which book format? ARC

Primary reading environment? Under a blanket in the dark

Any preconceived notions? Not particularly

Identify most with? Little Ash

Three little words? “deep, ancestral memory”

Recommend this to? People who like reluctant partnerships

Other cultural accompaniments: https://katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/blog/demons-inside-ashmedai

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman

Grade: 4/5

I leave you with this: “It’s only that the world is dangerous,” he said. “You can’t be certain of anything.”

📚📚📚

What a unique story about a genderless angel (Uriel) and a disabled demon (Ashmedai or “Little Ash”) who decide to travel to New York with two humans and discover that life isn’t much easier there than their shtetl. It’s also an exploration of identity and relationships amongst a backdrop of historical events. This book is quite charming considering the struggles the characters face, for example - anti-Semitism. There are people that compare this to Good Omens but it definitely is its own story as the only thing they both have in common is the angel/demon aspect. Definitely recommend!

When Angels Left The Old Country is available now.

*Check trigger warnings

Story: A
Prose: A
Characters: A-
World: B+
Theme(s): A
Enjoyment: B

An angel and a demon walk into a bar. They order nothing, and instead search the back rooms for their friend, who is possessed by an angry rabbi. This isn't a joke. Then the angel burns the bar down.

When the Angels Left the Old Country is a queer Young Adult Historical Coming of Age novel set at the turn of the century (the last one, not 2000). It follows a jewish angel and a demon tracking down a girl from their village who's stopped sending letters home and also follows a different girl who wants some space from her mandatory crush on her straight bestie as the trio emmigrate from the old country in eastern Europe to New York.

I rather liked Angels. Lamb has very readable, charming prose and the whole thing's got cozy and found family vibes: sharing food, teaching the other to sew, just looking out for each other. There are so many sweet little moments between characters. Although there's plenty of tension and even an action scene when it's required, Angels slow-paced, and measured and introspective . And when I say "slow" here, I don't mean the bad kind of slow where the characters fart around and nothing interesting happens. I mean the thoughtful, good kind of slow pace, where the characters take the time to reflect and think about how their lives are changing, and what new things they've encountered and what this all means to them.

While I personally enjoyed Angels, and found it to be a well-written book, I also recognize its got a few qualities some readers find off-putting, like the slow pace. It's a novel specifically about Jewish characters and Lamb occasionally uses a word in Hebrew or Yiddish. You can figure out most from context and there's a glossary provided in the back, but I know unknown terms throw some people right out of the story. There's also head hopping between the three point of view characters, and Although it flowed really well and felt natural, I know there are some readers who just hate that.

Overall, you want a cozy historical queer book, definitely recommend.

Tender, funny, heartfelt, and earnest, "When The Angels Left The Old Country" ranks with "Wrath Goddess Sing" and "What Moves The Dead" as one of the best new releases I've read this year. It's rare to find a book that I have virtually no criticisms of, but this one fits that bill and more. I truly can't think of any readers I wouldn't recommend this to - teens, adults, fantasy fans, readers who are character-based, readers who are setting-based, it's all there. This is a book overflowing with love for its characters, its setting, and its culture. I can't praise it highly enough.

Pitched as both "a traditional Yiddish novel, but queer," and reading like Gaiman and Pratchett's "Good Omens" for the new millennium, the book follows an angel and a demon as they leave their shetl (called only "Shetl," because, as the book explains, it's too small for a name of its own) to track down a villager who went missing after she left for America. Along the way, they encounter a determined young woman reeling from her first heartbreak, several dybbuks, a labour leader, a gentile demon in disguise as a doctor, and a rabbi's angry ghost. The fact that I can say "I've never read anything like this before" might be more of a testament to the gaps in my library than the book - Lamb is clearly writing in an existing tradition of Jewish fiction - but at the same time, it feels so fresh and so warm that both seasoned readers and newcomers to the genre will be delighted by what Lamb has to offer. It's a triumph on every level.

When a young woman named Essie from Shtetl hasn’t written to her father ever since she left for America, Little Ash and Uriel both study partners in that same place decided to embark on a journey to find her. Along the way, they met Rose a young woman who was brokenhearted upon the marriage of her friend Dinah. During their travels and upon arrival to America, they were met by trouble, some strange events and mysteries. They must work together in order to overcome their problems or things might not turn out well for all three of them.

Though it really didn’t resonate with me as much as I hoped it would, When the Angels Left the Old Country was definitely an interesting and unique story with endearing characters in Rose, Little Ash – the demon and Uriel – the angel who initially had no true name.

This book despite its funny, joyful and poignant moments reflected some historical and even present day sufferings with regards to the treatment of Jews especially anti-Semitism, the experience of immigrants as well as some class issues.

The story also delved into the exploration of one’s self and finding purpose and this was illustrated beautifully in the angel’s arc. Ash and Rose did also have some wonderful character growth, but Uriel who from being an angel who only knew how to take the name of its missions to finally taking in the name Uriel and grasping on its own hand its destiny had the best character transformation from all three.

It also touched upon on the complex topic of what it meant to be good and the choices one make in order to do what was deemed right. The author did a wonderful job in doing this within the story without sounding heavy-handed. The queer romance was definitely hinted within the novel and the relationship between Ash and Uriel who definitely loved each other deeply and profoundly provided some of the most poignant and moving parts of the book.

There were certain points in the story that felt a bit slow for me but the pacing did pick up during the halfway mark. This being a Jewish historical fantasy story, and as someone very unfamiliar with Eastern European Jewish or Yiddish culture, it was hard to grasp some of the context and meaning of certain parts on the initial read. There’s a glossary provided to help in this aspect though.

Overall this was an entertaining and unique story with supernatural creatures like angels, demons, and dybbuks and some really endearing characters. I do recommend giving this book a read.

This would be 4.25 stars out of 5 stars for me.

When the Angles Left the Old Country is a charming and original story of identity, faith, and love -- platonic, romantic, and religious. But for me, the premise and ideas outweighed the actual plotting and execution. After the first quarter of the story, the pacing became so slow that it became a struggle for the book to maintain my attention. And while Uriel and Little Ash each were wholly fleshed out characters, the rest of the world's population felt flat. There is a lot of sweetness here and I loved the way it explores Jewish culture and faith, I just found myself wishing the book lived up to its own potential.

A truly imaginative and unique tale! It is written in the style of a fairy tale, and draws heavily on Jewish culture. I don't know much about Judaism, but I was still drawn into the story of Little Ash and the angel.

I will say that I struggled a bit with the first 20%, but it certainly picks up once we are introduced to more characters.

This was a wonderfully charming story from the get-go; I knew I was in for a good time. An angel and demon, who have spent the last several centuries studying together in the synagogue of their tiny shtetl, set off to America in search of answers about what has happened to a young emigrant from their village. They stumble into more quests to help young Jewish people along the way, including the determined and spirited Rose, who has set off to America on her own after her best friend abandoned her to marry a man, and Malke, whose husband and family are embroiled in a factory strike in New York City.

To be blunt: I was delighted by this tale the whole way through. Featuring a marvelous cast of characters, most of the story focuses on Uriel (the angel), Little Ash (the demon), and Rose (the magnificent!). As an OwnVoices story told by a Jewish author, the book felt wonderfully indulgent in how it centered Jewish culture and thought. (Some readers may need to reference the glossary at the end, but I was glad to not need to.) It was also an indulgently queer story, in a way that felt open and honest while remaining true to the time period where the story is set. Rose's queerness was a joy to behold, and I'll admit to feeling especially warmed by Uriel and Little Ash's rather devoted friendship.

This story just had so much heart. And in addition to being fun! And funny! I had high hopes given the summary and those hopes were exceeded and more. The Good Omens comparison is a good one, but this story stands in a category all its own.

Gosh this book was good but what stood out to me was the fantastic characters.
Sold to me as Good Omens and I needed more of that. But what kept me reading was the relationship between Little Ash and Uriel was so special to read. It was lovely to see how wholeheartedly and without question Little Ash understood Uriel's identity as a genderless person, Uriel understands Little Ash and accepts him for who he is, even when who he is means doing things angels generally wouldn't approve of.

Would very much recommend When the Angels Left the Old Country

Thank you so much to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.
I genuinely absolutely loved this book just as much, if not more, than I expected to. As someone who grew up deeply entrenched in my Jewish culture and community, it was so amazing and such a special experience to be able to read a book with so many references I recognized. This book was so clearly deeply deeply rooted in Jewish (specifically Ashkenazi) culture and mythology which was really amazing to read.
Additionally, all of the characters are so loveable and I absolutely loved seeing the characters grow, whether they were teenage girls or immortal beings. This was especially true given the queer Jewish representation in this which is just so important and I have not come acros nearly enough of. I do wish we got to see more of Rivke as she essentially disappears from the story once they leave Ellis Island and I really liked her character and would’ve loved to see more of her.
One other thing I noticed is while I’m very glad there’s a glossary at least in the back, this book has so so many very specific references in it that it could benefit from having footnotes. This was because some of the references I’d actually never even heard of some of them before such as sheydim and ibburim, and I've spent a significant amount of time in Jewish spaces and constantly expanding my knowledge of Judaism. I feel like because of this, having footnotes would make it significantly more accessible for the general public since how it is now, I’m slightly worried people will put the book down because they don’t understand all of the terms and Jewish context and don’t want to keep Googling or flipping back and forth to the glossary.

(This review is based on an advanced reader’s copy provided by NetGalley.)

I loved the premise, and the storyteller-esque narrative voice, but the execution didn’t entirely work for me, and I’m not sure why. “What if an angel and a demon were queer Jewish frenemies and teamed up with a teen lesbian to get revenge on an exploitative boss” is a GREAT premise. I liked it a lot at first, and then things unraveled a bit. I suppose the plotting felt a little scattered. First they’re looking for Essie, and then there’s a labor activism plot, which is cool and which is connected to Essie but which felt sort of disconnected, to me. And we hardly get to know Essie, so I wasn’t as invested in that plotline as I felt I should have been.

Also, I’m not sure how technically accurate this is, but it felt to me as though the further you get into the book, the less relevant it is that the angel and the demon are, well, an angel and a demon. Maybe this is deliberate — the demon was never a very powerful demon in the first place, and the angel explicitly becomes more human, which is the kind of character I tend to be interested in (one who’s not quite one thing nor quite the other) — but also, I came to read about an angel and a demon, and I sort of wished they were more angel-y and demon-y.

Or maybe I’m just searching for explanations of why I didn’t like the whole book as much as I liked the beginning. After they leave Ellis Island and start settling into life in New York, the book sort of started to lag for me. Maybe it felt a little too much like two different books: the “angel/demon shenanigans” book, and then the “early twentieth century NYC immigrants” book — both of which I could like on its own, but which maybe didn’t fit together quite as well as they could have. Or maybe it was that none of the other characters besides the angel, demon, and Rose felt fleshed out enough. Maybe this is my usual issue of “liked the character parts, bored by the plotty parts.” I don’t know!

I am genuinely glad to have read it, even if it wasn’t all I’d hoped for. I would definitely read fanfiction of it! It was also nice to read something with basically no homophobia that I can think of, despite being set more than a century ago. There’s a character who the reader knows early on is queer, even though she doesn’t know it herself yet, and when she finally figures it out, it is purely a joyful scene.

Rep: POV character who is sapphic (probably lesbian; no labels are used); POV character who is genderless and masculine-presenting and uses it/its pronouns (it’s an angel), and who has an arguably romantic or perhaps queerplatonic relationship with a male character (it calls him “the friend of my soul”). All major characters are Jewish. Most characters are poor or working-class.

I can't say enough how much I loved this book. There is the obvious comparison to Good Omens, but I think the real Terry Pratchett comparison is in the way that Lamb so clearly loves people (the Pratchett did), and believes in the thousand ways we can love each other better (even as we cause each other pain!). This book is well-paced, with a confident, engaging voice and a plot that beautifully uses events to bring to life questions and ideas of belonging, identity, and family. I will be recommending this wide and far, to adults and teens alike!

I can't think of a way to describe this book other than an Absolute Delight. Warm, charming and deeply human - despite neither of the protagonists being one - and wonderfully Jewish and queer. The characters sneak into your heart when you're not looking, the writing is fun and whimsical, and despite the light-hearted tone the book handles difficult topics (such as the struggles faced by Jewish immigrants in America) with tactfulness and grace. Also, Uriel's use of it/its pronouns and Little Ash's chronic pain in particular mean So much to me, and I don't think I'll ever get over the moment of a character realizing their queerness being compared to "standing at Sinai, receiving the word of Heaven" 😭😭😭 There's just so much gentleness and intimacy within this story, I know I'll be returning to it as a comfort read.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and Levine Querido for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Please note that the final version of this book may contain differences to what I mention in my review.

This was such a fun, unique story well outside of my usual comfort zone, and therefore a very pleasant surprise! I loved the blurb by the author, "the classic Yiddish novel, but it's queer." That was definitely an accurate teaser, in my opinion, and fascinated me from the start. I was a bit intimidated at the beginning with the many references to Judaism, words in Hebrew and Yiddish, and the cultural context overall that was unfamiliar to me; however, I found that I learned and got used to it as the book went on, and these new (to me) ideas were actually refreshing and intriguing. At the end of the book, I also appreciated the provided glossary so that I could ensure my comprehension.

I absolutely adored the two main characters, Little Ash and the Angel/Uriel, and the exploration of their natures, partnerships, identities, and the parallels between how we identify as humans and the spectrum of gender identities present among us. Even more so, I loved the voice of the omniscient narrator who had a very quirky and snarky attitude and which lent some humor and lightness to the overall story. As an example:

"Rose had shouted at her, screamed at some trees in the forest, screamed at the goats and Motl and her father, cried for three days, and then decided that she had never liked Dinah anyway and that Dinah, may she live to a hundred and twenty, could go hang."

While the tone of the book overall is fun, adventurous, and lighthearted, the story deals with some heavy topics such as death, harsh labor conditions, morality/mortality, and more. The writing was immaculate and clearly crystallized many ideas and problems faced by Jewish (and in many cases, non-Jewish) immigrants in the early 20th century. In a scene where one of the side characters is rousing a crowd of factory workers to prepare to strike, the Angel observes:

"He spoke like a prophet, in images: backs bent over machines; cotton scraps floating through the air and nestling in the lungs of young women until they choked on their own breath and could not climb to their second-floor apartments without gasping; needles that broke and stabbed hands, faces, blinded eyes; blood on white fabric; doors locked and pockets searched so that not a penny of stock could be stolen to buy a penny's worth of bread when the wages didn't stretch to feed an infant who lay home in its cradle and cried, fourteen hours a day, because there was no one there to hold it in her arms."

Ugh. That paragraph absolutely broke me. It taught me a new perspective on the labor abuses of this time period and helped me not take for granted many of the rights and protections we have today, thanks to people like those in this story who fought for them.

Overall, I think this is an outstanding, refreshingly unique novel that can teach everyone something, while also being highly entertaining.

When the Angels Left the Old Country is due to be released on October 18, 2022.

So, century-long study partners Uriel and Little Ash go on a journey that quickly becomes one where they grow as people (or, angels and demons respectively?). I especially loved Uriel’s character growth and its journey on finding a name. Uriel is genderless, as I read it, and uses it/its pronouns. While Little Ash does change around his appearance in the book, I came away with the feeling that he presents more masculinely.

As the synopsis of the book states, Uriel and Little Ash go on a journey to America to find a girl from their shtetl. Along the way, the two of them meet a whole cast of characters. Rose was very sweet and I loved her part of the story as well, though I’m left wanting more of her own adventures!

There are two love stories in this sweet book, the first of which being Little Ash and Uriel. And can I tell you I was rooting for them along their great adventure? Rose’s own romance is a bit of a whirlwind. I wish they had a little more time for that, but it was still sweet.

The plot, I would say, starts off a little slow, but when it gets rolling it really rolls! This story was heartwarming and a little bit silly at times. The voice of the story was very engaging and I found myself utterly charmed. At the same time, I felt like Lamb deals with the very real suffering of the time well, while balancing it with all of the other elements of their book.

I highly recommend this novel and hope that you’ll check it out once it’s out!

Happy reading!

I love the #ownvoices rep, as this is important to me. I love the queer romance, and the setting of this story is so unique. I love that this work could also be interpreted agender/asexual. Thank you for the advance copy!

Way back in 2018 I read Sacha Lamb's solid and moving novella Avi Cantor Has Sixth Months to Live, so I was thrilled to see a full length traditionally published novel from LQ coming out!!! When the Angels Left the Old Country did not disappoint at all - it perfectly delivered a folkloric tale with classic oral storytelling elements and a suspenseful mystery/historical thriller. I loved tracing the development of Uriel and Little Ash - characters that had become totally unstuck from time - from scholars to rebels. The book also prompted me to learn more about the history of Jewish labor organizers in the US. There are so few YA books about labor movements (especially ones that feature Jewish people) & this one is deeply necessary.

When the Angels Left the Old Country is a masterpiece about the Ashkenazi diaspora, a book about care and love, a story about becoming yourself, and a funny and moving take on Jewish life in New York, complete with garment workers' strikes, corruption, and the joy of community. At the heart of it is the Jewish philosophy of working to repair the world, known as tikkun olam. Little Ash--a King of Hell who has no plans to return to that terrible place--and the Angel--who develops his identity through their travel and plans to help people from their shetl--adhere to this simply because it's right (although Ashe also uses the need to help as a way to fulfill his dream of going to America). It's a charming novel, a queer novel, a Jewish novel, an American novel. I love it.