When Angels Left the Old Country was a pick for our sapphic book club. After reading, I think it’s more than earned its many prizes.

The demonic Little Ash and angelic Uriel have been living and studying in the shtetl for time out of mind. Lately though, many of the shtetl’s youth have whispered of “America” and are leaving to seek their fortune. One young woman, Essie, has similarly left to help her family, but she hasn’t written lately. Eager for the adventure, Little Ash and the distractable Uriel follow Essie’s trail from Warsaw to Ellis Island, witnessing the travails of the early twentieth century immigration process. Arrival is only the beginning. The pair befriend Rose, a spurned lesbian Jewish woman tearfully starting again, and become embroiled in New York’s burgeoning labor movement. The world is a big place beyond their little shtetl! 

Like I said, Sacha Lamb’s novel more than earns its Stonewall Book Award, AJL win, and Printz Award of Excellence. Especially for a historical fiction, this book’s themes felt incredibly immediate and relatable to the times we’re living now. Lamb unabashedly pens a queer Jewish story and puts up a mirror on the intertwining of these communities and identities. My Jewish friends felt very seen and appreciated that Lamb both celebrated Jewishness and hinted at blind spots within Jewish society. The in-text Yiddish words are a treat! Uriel’s gender journey was brilliant, and the angel-demon romance was adorable. Sadly, the USA’s immigration system’s xenophobia is alive and well, but the book left us energized to enact change. We were abuzz with the diverse beauty of the world, in all its forms and permutations. Together, in community, we can achieve anything.

 When the Angels Left the Old Country is a classic in the making. The level of craft, the unforgettable characters, the realism of the immigrant experience–reading Lamb’s work is a mitzvah for yourself and those around you.