Golem

Podolia, 1911: one day, a stranger arrives at the shtetl. He walks with a limp, appears to be deaf and has the look of a vagrant. The tight-knit community is on the point of chasing him out, but the local tzaddik sees the spark of holiness in his eyes. Named Rafael, he settles in the shtetl and begins forming close relationships with members of this Hasidic community - and slowly, this incomprehensible, magnetic figure brings the people's deepest emotions and conflicts to the fore.Written in poetic prose that draws on fascinating elements of Jewish folklore and mysticism, Golem reconstructs a vanished world with a spellbinding combination of the real and the fantastical.



Maciej Płaza is a Polish writer, scholar and translator. He is the author of three works of fiction for which he has received numerous awards, including the Gdynia Literary Prize and the Angelus Central European Literature Award. He translates from English into Polish and received a Literature in the World Award for his translation of H.P. Lovecraft's stories.