Wrath Becomes Her

By Aden Polydoros

Book Overview

2024 Sydney Taylor Book Award Young Adult Honor

"Haunting, exhilarating, and a howl of vengeance." --Andrew Joseph White, New York Times bestselling author of Hell Followed With Us

Frankenstein meets Inglourious Basterds in this stunning Jewish historical horror novel from the award-winning author of The City Beautiful

Vera was made for vengeance.

Lithuania, 1943. A father drowns in the all-consuming grief of a daughter killed by the Nazis. He can't bring Chaya back from the dead, but he can use kishuf -- an ancient and profane magic -- to create a golem in her image. A Nazi killer, to avenge her death.

When Vera awakens, she can feel her violent purpose thrumming within her. But she can also feel glimpses of a human life lived, of stolen kisses amidst the tragedy, and of a grisly death. And when she meets Akiva, she recognizes the boy with soft lips that gave warm kisses. But these memories aren't hers, and Vera doesn't know if she gets--or deserves--to have a life beyond what she was made for.

Vera's strength feels limitless--until she learns that there are others who would channel kishuf for means far less noble than avenging a daughter's death. As she confronts the very basest of humanity, Vera will need more than what her creator gave her: Not just a reason to fight, but a reason to live.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1335458034
• ISBN13: 9781335458032
• Release Date: October 2023
• Publisher: Inkyard Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 and higher

Customer Reviews

A unique and original Holocaust story

Wrath Becomes Her is set in WWII during the Nazi occupation of Lithuania. This action-packed story follows Vera, a golem who has been created by Ezra, a Jewish scholar, in the image of his daughter Chaya who was killed fighting the Nazis. Vera has been imbued with the purpose of avenging Chaya's death and protecting Jews from the Nazis and carries with her many of Chaya's memories. Beautiful and brutal, this book offers a unique and original perspective on the Holocaust. It is thought provoking, in that it makes us think about what makes us human, what defines a monster, and what remains of us after we are gone. The writing was lyrical and poetic, the story highly emotional with an emphasis on grief, loss, despair and anger, not only anger directed against the Nazis, but also those who collaborated with them and those whose silence aided and abetted their monstrous agenda. Wrath Becomes Her was compelling and vivid, I just would have appreciated more wrath and rage.