• Age: 13 to 18
• Grade: 8 to 12

Lithuania, 1943. Grieving for his daughter, one father uses kishuf—an ancient and profane magic—to create a golem in her image, not a real girl of flesh and blood but a nearly invincible avenging spirit of mud and steel.
But when Vera awakens, it’s not only with a violent purpose, but with memories of the real girl killed by the Nazis. Then she meets Akiva, a boy she already remembers—the feel of his hand in her hair, his lips on her skin—and instantly joins him on a quest for revenge. But there are those who would channel kishuf for less noble means, and to triumph, Vera will need more than what her creator gave her: not just a reason to fight, but a reason to live.

Aden Polydoros is an award-winning author who transitioned from female-to-male when he was 14. After going ‘stealth’ for over 10 years, he came out as transgender in order to support trans youth and vocalize how transitioning saved his life. His YA gothic fantasy novel, The City Beautiful, won the Sydney Taylor Book Award and was a finalist for the Lambda Award, the National Jewish Book Award, the Cybils Award, the South Carolina Book Award, and the 2022 World Fantasy Award.

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