The Golem of Prague

In 1892 Prague, an inquisitive boy named Frantz Munka, his curiosity piqued nearly to torment by the Golem story he's been told, is inexplicably drawn to the "forbidden attic" of the Old New Synagogue. He steals out one night to investigate and ends up unconscious on the attic floor. The (lengthy) narrative leaves Frantz there for the moment and flashes back to 1580, during the Inquisition era, where Rabbi Loew, the Maharal of Prague, creates a Golem to protect his people, with near-disastrous results. Cohen-Janca's text incorporates Jewish folklore and mysticism within an Old World milieu, braiding European history, religion, and magic; there's also an element of theatricality, as the puppeteer in Frantz's time mesmerizes his audience with stories that echo the book's events. Quarello's illustrations of the medieval setting are hauntingly beautiful though frequently grotesque, their subdued hues drawing viewers' eyes to the shadows and then, startlingly, incorporating flashes of reds. How everything comes together--complete with a love story and an ambiguous ending--raises intriguing and unanswered questions about fate and love, faith and identity. elissa gershowitz