The Hidden Palace: A Novel of the Golem and the Jinni

Written by Helene Wecker

Narrated by George Guidall

In this enthralling historical epic, set in New York City and the Middle East in the years leading to World War I— the long-awaited follow-up to the acclaimed New York Times bestseller The Golem and the Jinni—Helene Wecker revisits her beloved characters Chava and Ahmad as they confront unexpected new challenges in a rapidly changing human world.

Chava is a golem, a woman made of clay, who can hear the thoughts and longings of those around her and feels compelled by her nature to help them. Ahmad is a jinni, a restless creature of fire, once free to roam the desert but now imprisoned in the shape of a man. Fearing they’ll be exposed as monsters, these magical beings hide their true selves and try to pass as human—just two more immigrants in the bustling world of 1900s Manhattan. Brought together under calamitous circumstances, their lives are now entwined—but they’re not yet certain of what they mean to each other.

Both Chava and Ahmad have changed the lives of the people around them. Park Avenue heiress Sophia Winston, whose brief encounter with Ahmad left her with a strange illness that makes her shiver with cold, travels to the Middle East to seek a cure. There she meets Dima, a tempestuous female jinni who’s been banished from her tribe. Back in New York, in a tenement on the Lower East Side, a little girl named Kreindel helps her rabbi father build a golem they name Yossele—not knowing that she’s about to be sent to an orphanage uptown, where the hulking Yossele will become her only friend and protector.

Spanning the tumultuous years from the turn of the twentieth century to the beginning of World War I, The Hidden Palace follows these lives and others as they collide and interleave. Can Chava and Ahmad find their places in the human world while remaining true to each other? Or will their opposing natures and desires eventually tear them apart—especially once they encounter, thrillingly, other beings like themselves?

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Jun 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9780063097377

Helene Wecker

Helene Wecker received a BA from Carleton College in Minnesota and an MFA from Columbia University in New York. A Chicago-area native who has made her home in Minneapolis, Seattle, and New York, she now lives near San Francisco with her husband and daughter. The Golem and the Jinni is her first novel.

Reviews for The Hidden Palace

[Leong Shu En · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I like how the writer construct the inner feeling and personality of each of the characters, inside their conflicting and struggling mind and how they show hints thru their external behavior. It's a bit sad though, that the story span across more than 10 years and some of the human characters seems bound to be passing away. Hope there is a 3rd book and hope that the story will not span such long period of time and we get to meet all the same characters again.

[kathy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was amazing. After being completely blown away by her first book The Golem and the Jinni- I was delighted to find a sequel. I am an voracious reader and this was one of the most unique and interesting books I’ve ever read. I love the way it travels through New York’s history and the way these two unusual characters become a ensconced in the world they find themselves in. This book is truly nothing like I’ve ever read before. And the narrator had the perfect voice. Every once in a while you listen to a book by an author that you would love to meet and talk with. This author is one of them.

[Raven Green · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very satisfying! As much a love story about New York as the golem and the jinni. Is there gonna be a trilogy, Helene?

[sogamonk · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

a total disappointment. I enjoyed the first book . This story seemed dull, and repetitious. A shame it took so long to write such a dull book

[rekki-281232 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I dove right into The Hidden Palace after finishing The Golemn and the Jinni. I enjoyed this sequel quite a bit, though I think I like the first book slightly more. The way all of the different characters and storylines end up converging was really interesting and hooked me on both of these books. If a third ever comes out I will jump on that one too. =)

[c Kops · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Was this worth the 8 year wait?? Yes and no. I LOVED The Golem and the Jinni, it was the first fantasy book that I ever devoured. I think the buildup of suspense and excitement was so great that no book would have ever lived up to my expectations.
For me, the beauty of this sequel wasn’t the magical stories of golems and jinns, it was NYC, the enchanting city at the turn of the 20th century. We watch the building of Penn Station and walk the streets of the Lower East Side and Greenwich Village inhaling the sights, sounds and smells of the tenements with it bakeries, laundries, pushcarts and factories. Wecker tenderly describes the historical highlights of the early 1900’s; pogroms in Russia, sinking of The Titanic, tragic fire of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory and a young Lawrence of Arabia are all woven into the tapestry of this tale. It’s a slow burn with an anticlimactic ending, partly predictable but otherwise deeply satisfying.

[caimanjosh · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A character-driven novel that is also tightly plotted. Very enjoyable.

[kelly · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Once I started, I couldn’t stop. This book was so good and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed!

[Danél · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Strangely compelling book about a woman made of mud who can read peoples thoughts compelled to help and a jinnie with no apparently grand powers mostly self absorbed. A storie of lonely individuals who find each other through a loosely woven series of events.

[bibliovermis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed the first book of this series and was a bit disappointed with this one—maybe because it took place over such a long time period, I found that it really dragged in sections. I enjoyed some of the new characters being followed, and I liked the ending.

[bell7_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Chava Levy, a golem, and Ahmad al-Hadid, a jinni, continue living in secrecy in New York City, meeting each other at night to walk and argue. But as time goes on, Chava realizes that people will start to be suspicious of her as she never ages, and Ahmad keeps everyone at a distance, much to her chagrin.When it comes down to it, it's very hard to say what this story is about, and I think that's also what left me feeling a bit dissatisfied. Reading it was enjoyable, but events just kind of meandered along as we follow not only Chava and Ahmad, but also Sophia Winston, the woman whom Ahmad had seduced and left cold (literally) in the first book, and the orphan girl Kreindel over the course of 15 or so years. It was frustrating to have a narrative pulling me in so many disparate directions at once, and I thought the way everything came together at the end was a little heavy handed.

[needmoreshelves · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Falling back into this world was like returning to old friends. Helene Wecker has created a world that is so magical, yet completely grounded in reality, and her characters live and breathe off the page. In the first novel, Ahmad and Chava are drawn to each other because of their lonliness - their "otherness", the feeling that nobody else can understand them. In The Hidden Palace, each meets another of their kind, and discovers that finding one "like" them isn't the cure they had hoped. So many characters from the first novel are back, and the addition of new faces and voices only enriches the narrative. I love this world. I would read 100 books with these characters, and I hope Wecker has plans for many more.

[invisiblelizard · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Much of the praise I had for the first book in this series carries over to the second: Wecker writes well, employs good world building, and provides us with excellent character development. My chief complaint about the first novel (minor, as it was) was that the pacing was irregular. Tons of setup that crawled at a snail's pace for an action packed ending. This second novel fixes that, to some extent. The pacing was definitely more even. Still slow and deliberate, but she doles out crucial scenes and plot elements (and opportunities for character evolvement or devolvement, depending on the character) throughout. Also, some of the minor characters in the first novel get picked back up here and fleshed out nicely. I would have given this solid 5 stars had the story compelled me along with a little more urgency. I enjoyed the story, enjoyed reading it, but I found myself all too often putting it aside for something else. These two books should not have taken me a month to read each, yet they did. I don't have a satisfactory solution to this problem. The books are good, bordering on great, just not much fun to read in parts. Regardless, this is at least a half-step up from the first book, and if there is a third en route (in perhaps another 8 years) I suspect she'll hit the bullseye and give me the 5-star book I'm hoping for.I loved the ending, by the way. If anybody is contemplating putting it down mid-read because it's moving too slow, I whole-heartedly recommend getting to the end. It was deeply moving and satisfying.

[froxgirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this sequel, even though my recall of the original was pretty hazy. Despite that, I was able to quickly immerse myself in the multiple worlds the author so ably describes, and the old (Ahmad) and new jinni and old (Chava) and new golem. Set in a historically rich time period, events impacting the characters include the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, the Titanic and the Luisitania, WW I, the Armenian Genocide, and even real people, like T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia). The settings, on the Lower East Side and Upper West Side of NYC and in the Middle East, are beautifully rendered, and the pairings the readers assumes will occur - don't. It's reminiscent of the almost perfect novel Ragtime by E.L. Doctrow. There's room for a third book; in fact, the characters almost demand it.

[quondame · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Just being two individuals different from all around you does not make you perfect for each other. The golem Chava and the jinni Ahmed find their abilities as well as their limitations can drive wedges between them however good they are for each other. This novel is a slow burn to a firecracker string finish. Perhaps it could have been shorter, but one doesn't regret the calm time one spends in this milieu.

[maydacat_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This sequel to “The Golem and the Jinni” was certainly worth waiting for. Rich in descriptions for both settings and characters, this book is dense with details in its complex plot. Chava, the golem, and Ahmad, the jinni, are both major characters in this installment, but they never quite get to that new level in their relationship that I had hoped for. Sophia is still looking for a cure for her ailment, and Anna’s son Toby is growing up. The years are passing, which proves to be a problem for those characters who don’t age: people begin to notice. Old problems continue, new problems occur, some people die, and new characters enter the story. Historical happenings are included and add interest to the story. It tumultuous times in this epic tale, and it’s not a short book, but the superb writing and the imaginative scenes make every word worth reading.

[nbmars · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Note: Some spoilers for the previous book. No spoilers for this sequel.This book, melding magical realism with historical fiction, continues the story that began with the 2013 novel, The Golem and The Jinni. I reread that book before taking on the sequel, and although it probably wasn’t necessary, I am glad I did so, having forgotten many small details.The story takes place for the most part in Manhattan, a place which the author clearly knows thoroughly - even in its historic aspects - and loves. It is set at the beginning of the 20th Century.Most of the characters are the same as in the previous novel, although there are a few important additions.It's an immigrant story in a way, about two very different beings who ended up in the melting pot of New York in 1899. One is a golem, and one a jinni.In Jewish folklore, a golem is a human-like figure made out of clay and brought to life by esoteric magic known only to a select few adept at Jewish mysticism, or Kabbalah. Golems – unnaturally strong and unquestionably obedient to their creators - were said to have been created from time to time in olden days to help defend Jews from anti-Semitic attacks. In Wecker’s first book, a Prussian man who could not find a wife went to an old man with reputed occult knowledge to request that a golem be made for him to serve as a wife. He packed up the golem and set out for New York. He died en route, however, and the golem was left to fend for herself. Rabbi Avram Meyer, a kindly rabbi, saw the golem, recognized what she was, and took her in to protect her, naming her Chava.Meanwhile, a parallel story concerned the unexpected release of a jinni from an old copper flask in a tinsmith shop in New York's Little Syria. Jinnis (or genies) are the products of Middle Eastern and Muslim mythology, and are said to be spirits made of fire. Many, however, can make themselves look like humans. Boutros Arbeely, the tinsmith who inadvertently released the jinni, who was in the guise of a handsome young man, vowed to protect him much as the rabbi did with Chava, and named him Ahmad.It is only a matter of time before this woman of earth and man of fire meet, and realize they have more in common than might at first be apparent. As they navigated through their unexpected lives in America, they also get to know each other, helping each other to understand what it means to be human, and maybe even what it means to love.The sequel begins a year later, with Chava working at a bakery and Ahmad working at the tinsmith’s. Neither Ahmad nor Chava sleep, so they use their time in the evenings to walk together through the streets and on the rooftops of Manhattan. They have a close relationship, although one characterized by a great deal of philosophical disagreement. They are very different in some ways. The jinni muses that Chava had a prudish streak, was serious-minded, and rarely laughed. He thought “She would make a terrible jinniyeh.”Ahmad is so good at using his inner fire to shape metals that the small tinsmith shop in Little Syria in Manhattan is now Arbeely & Ahmad, All Metals.Ahmad lives like a human now, having given up not only the jinn language but jinn ways:“He followed rules and conventions, as far as he deemed himself reasonably able. He guarded his speech, and checked his desires, and tried, at all times, to remember that his actions had consequences.” Chava too, was making her way as a human as well as she could. Both have to be very careful however not to reveal their great strength and their inhuman characteristics. In fact, when people at the bakery notice that Chava never seems to age, she knows she has to leave even though she loves the job. She enrolls in school for “Domestic Sciences” to become a teacher.Sophia Winston, a young girl with whom the jinni had a brief relationship, is now off traveling through the Middle East try to find a cure for her constant lack of warmth since her affair with Ahmad. Rabbi Meyer has died, and Rabbi Lev Altschul took over his collection of mystical books. He becomes obsessed with making a golem himself, eventually letting his young daughter Kreindel help him. The two are alone; the Rabbi’s wife died years earlier. The outcome of his efforts play a significant role in the story.Complicating matters, Yehudah Schaalman, the villainous man who created Chava, has come to New York to find the golem and find the key, if he could, to eternal life. He has no moral compass, and perfectly willing to do all the damage necessary to attain his goal.As the story progresses and the years pass, we see all the characters gradually come together in a momentous denouement, taking place sixteen years after the golem and the jinni first arrived in Manhattan.Evaluation: I loved this sequel, and enjoyed following the clever threads woven by the author to flesh out other lives and make them intersect with those of Chava and Ahmad. It is not at all clear if they will survive, and in what state, and how the others will fare in their wake. Altogether a satisfying story!