The Golem and the Jinni

Published in 2013, The Golem and the Jinni is Helene Wecker’s debut novel. As its title implies, the novel follows the story of a Golem named Chava and a Jinni named Ahmad as they navigate the chaotic realities of New York City in 1899 and 1900. Even as they both struggle to hide their true natures and blend into their local communities, they learn to trust each other on the difficult path to reconciling their tumultuous pasts with their uncertain futures. While the novel’s premise is based in fantasy, the protagonists’ challenges reflect the many trials that await all immigrants who must learn to adapt to a new culture.

Born in a suburb of Chicago, Wecker’s career in marketing took her to Minneapolis and Seattle, and she eventually moved to New York City and earned a master of fine arts (MFA) from Columbia University. She currently lives in San Francisco with her husband and child. In 2013, she published The Golem and the Jinni and received critical acclaim from The Washington Post, USA Today, The New York Times Book Review, The Boston Globe, and many more. The historical fantasy novel was awarded the Mythopoeic Award for Wecker’s outstanding work in myth and fantasy. In 2021, she published the sequel to The Golem and the Jinni, which is titled The Hidden Palace.

This guide refers to the 2014 Paperback First Harper Perennial edition.

Content Warning: The source material and this study guide include descriptions of self-harm, death by suicide, suicidal ideation, sexual assault, enslavement, racism, sexism, antisemitism, and xenophobia.

Plot Summary

In 1899, Otto Rotfeld wants two things: to leave Konig, a small town in Prussia, and to find a wife who will travel to America with him. He asks Yehudah Schaalman for help. Well-versed in Kabbalistic teachings and dark magic, Schaalman builds Rotfeld a Golem, giving the Golem sentience, personality, and the power of speech. Schaalman also warns Rotfeld of the Golem’s innate destructive tendencies. Aboard the steamship to New York, Rotfeld’s health rapidly declines, and he dies soon after bringing the Golem to life. Without Rotfeld, the Golem has no master; she can hear every person’s desires and feels compelled to respond to them. When the ship docks, she avoids customs and eventually encounters a kindly old rabbi named Avram Meyer, who realizes what she is and names her Chava, training her to pass as a human. As Chava adjusts to human life, the Rabbi is conflicted about whether to destroy her. He knows that a Golem is a dangerous threat, but she has become like a daughter to him. He records his research on ways to bind her to a new master, but he worries that pursuing this plan will rob her of free will. Eventually, she fits in well enough that Avram introduces her to his nephew, Michael Levy, who runs a local shelter and suggests that Chava work at a nearby bakery.

Meanwhile, in a neighborhood of New York called Little Syria, a tinsmith named Boutros Arbeely accidentally releases a Jinni from a copper flask. The Jinni was captured by a wizard and has been in the flask for almost 1,000 years. He has no memory of what happened to him during that time or how he was trapped. Despite being freed, he still wears iron cuffs that lock him into human form and prevent him from accessing his full powers. Arbeely makes the Jinni his apprentice and offers him shelter. The Jinni chooses the name Ahmad and begins to integrate into the neighborhood.

Throughout the novel, the chapters include flashbacks of the time preceding Ahmad’s capture in the flask. Long ago, Ahmad was fascinated by humans and he began following caravans across the Syrian desert. Inspired by human architecture, he built a massive glass palace. One day, he saw a young Bedouin woman named Fadwa and let her catch a glimpse of the palace. Amazed, she told her family. Ahmad entered her dreams many times to get to know her better, but he inadvertently caused her to fall into a coma. To cure Fadwa, her father took her to a wizard named Wahab ibn Malik, a skeletal man who used dark magic. He promised her father that he can save her from the Jinni’s influence, but he secretly wanted to capture the Jinni and planned to use Fadwa to do so.

In the narrative present, the Rabbi continues his research into controlling Golems, but he grows ill and has limited time to live. Meanwhile, Chava enjoys her work at the bakery and has befriended her vivacious coworker, Anna Blumberg. Avram continues working on his spell to give the Golem a new master. To alleviate some of his guilt, Avram crafts a spell that requires the Golem’s consent to have a new master.

Meanwhile, Ahmad meets Sophia Winston, an extremely wealthy young heiress who is already engaged to be married. Ahmad seduces her, and later, when she goes on a European tour, she miscarries the resulting child and suffers continuing ill health upon her return to New York. Back in Konig, Schaalman finds himself unable to stop thinking about Rotfeld. He has always been attracted to dark magic and knows that he is destined for damnation. This knowledge leads him to search for immortality. He discovers that the answer is in New York and goes there. He ends up in Michael Levy’s shelter, and visits every synagogue searching for mystical texts.

Just as the Rabbi finishes the spell, he dies of a heart attack. Chava discovers him and is shaken by intense grief. That night, she wanders the streets and encounters Ahmad. They each recognize the other’s true nature. The Jinni is desperate to speak to someone who will understand him, and the two eventually agree to meet weekly. They often discuss their experiences of living among humans. As time goes on, Ahmad’s innate metalworking talent draws the attention of a wealthy Syrian man named Thomas Maloof who orders a tinplate ceiling, and when they install it, Ahmad strikes up a friendship with Maloof’s messenger, a boy named Matthew who has a sick mother named Nadia. Matthew begins following Ahmad around and helping with various tasks. After the completion of the ceiling, Matthew overhears Ahmad and Arbeely talking about the Jinni’s abilities and realizes Ahmad’s true nature.

Michael develops romantic feelings for Chava, but she does not reciprocate them; she is more concerned about her newly pregnant coworker, Anna. When Irving, the father of the child, proposes, Anna invites Chava to a celebratory dance. Chava enjoys herself and invites Ahmad. The two discover Anna and her fiancé arguing, and Chava becomes enraged when Irving slaps Anna. She viciously attacks him, and Ahmad stops Chava and carries her to safety. While she is unconscious, he opens her locket and discovers the formula for destroying a Golem. He keeps the formula but returns the locket. When Chava awakens, she is horrified by her actions and immediately blames Ahmad’s influence. The two argue and decide to stop seeing each other. Fearing that she will harm other humans, Chava decides to destroy herself but discovers that the instructions are gone, so as a last resort, she decides to marry Michael and claim him as her guardian.

Meanwhile, Schaalman realizes that Chava is the Golem bride he made for Rotfeld. He begins to follow her and learns that she has some connection to eternal life. One day, Matthew takes Ahmad to his home, where Matthew’s mother, Nadia, lies dying. After her death, Matthew demands that Ahmad bring his mother back to life. Ahmad realizes that Matthew only befriended him to ask him to save Nadia. Angry, he warns Matthew off. When Ahmad returns to the shop, Arbeely and others yell at him for scaring Matthew, but Ahmad refuses to apologize or explain. Arbeely dissolves their partnership and kicks Ahmad out. Ahmad packs up and gives the key to his flat to a local loner named Saleh.

Meanwhile, Chava’s married life is frustrating, for she constantly struggles to maintain her human façade. When Michael reads Avram’s research, he discovers his wife’s true nature and becomes terrified of her. His horror triggers Chava, but she manages to tell him to run before she loses control. After he leaves, she finds Schaalman’s notes and discovers how he created her. Meanwhile, Schaalman realizes that Ahmad is the key to eternal life and begins to track the Jinni. When Ahmad and Schaalman finally see each other, memories of the past thousand years come flooding back to the Jinni. The narrative reveals that Schaalman is the most recent reincarnation of the wizard Wahab ibn Malik. Many centuries ago, Malik used Fadwa and her father to trick and trap Ahmad. When Malik bound the Jinni to him, he tied their souls together until the Jinni’s death, guaranteeing his own reincarnation as long as the Jinni remained alive. With Ahmad trapped in the flask, Malik essentially became immortal. Now, Ahmad and Schaalman’s meeting causes a massive explosion. Ahmad learns that Schaalman—formerly Malik—still has total control over him, and before Schaalman can regain consciousness, he runs. Saleh follows him. They go to Central Park, where the Jinni knocks Saleh unconscious and tries to kill himself by extinguishing his inner fire in the Angel of the Waters fountain.

Meanwhile, Chava searches for Ahmad after learning about Schaalman’s plan to find him. She runs to Central Park and finds Saleh, and the two pull Ahmad from the water just in time. They go to Sophia’s mansion to revive the Jinni by placing him in one of the many lit fireplaces. As they do, Schaalman goes back to the shelter house, where he kills Michael to obtain Avram’s notes about Golems. He finds the spell to bind Chava to a new master and sees that it requires her consent. He takes Anna hostage to pressure Chava into agreeing, then orders Ahmad to bring Chava to him. Saleh follows but hides from Schaalman’s view. Chava agrees to accept Schaalman as her master in order to save Anna. Schaalman orders her to put Ahmad in the flask because he is too weak to do so himself. Ahmad tries to wrest away the paper with the instructions to destroy a Golem. Now under Schaalman’s control, Chava attacks him, but Schaalman loses control because his memories from the last thousand years of reincarnations overwhelm him. During the struggle, Saleh obtains the flask and traps Schaalman in it instead of the Jinni, effectively freeing both Ahmad and Chava.

Afterward, the Jinni returns to Syria and escorts Matthew to the boy’s remaining family in France. Once in Syria, Ahmad finds the other Jinn and asks them to guard the flask so that no one can open it. The Jinn agree. Anna and Chava walk through Central Park, and Anna asks Chava what she plans to do when Ahmad returns. Chava is unsure, but later, she receives a telegram from Ahmad. He is returning to New York and to her.