The Angel of Losses

June 9, 2014
Sisters Marjorie and Holly Burke used to be best friends, before Marjorie got wrapped up in her dissertation and Holly converted to Orthodox Judaism—specifically, the orthodoxy practiced by a little-known sect called the Berukhim Penitents—to marry Nathan, with whom Marjorie immediately clashed. Growing up in suburban New Jersey, the sisters would listen to their grandfather Eli’s bedtime stories of the White Magician, a bearded wizard with piercing blue eyes. Years later, in the days following Eli’s funeral, Marjorie finds a marbled notebook filled with hastily scrawled writing in his hand. Its contents—part folktale, part biography—launch her on a full-tilt investigation of the notebook’s main character, the White Rebbe. In the process, Marjorie also learns about the Angel of Losses, whom the Rebbe is doomed to repay, and her grandfather’s secret past. Gradually, external forces humble Holly and Marjorie, paving the way for their reconciliation. This impressive debut from Feldman is a page-turner that celebrates sisterly love. Agent: Seth Fishman, Gernert Company.

May 15, 2014

Marjorie, a literary scholar studying the Wandering Jew archetype, has a strained relationship with her sister Holly, who has married an Orthodox Jew belonging to a mysterious sect. While sorting through her deceased grandfather's belongings, Marjorie discovers a notebook containing a tale about a white rebbe tormented and haunted by an angel; the story not only parallels her own research but may be connected to her grandfather's unspoken past. As she searches for three missing companion notebooks and draws connections with the help of a librarian with whom she becomes romantically involved, Marjorie discovers that her brother-in-law Nathan is on a similar quest. VERDICT Feldman's debut novel is an unusual combination of literary thriller, family drama, and Jewish mysticism, but the pieces fit together somewhat uneasily, with the reader unsure how literally to take the supernatural elements. Fans of Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian or the works of Lev Grossman will find something here in a similar vein, but with a little quieter pacing and a little more spirituality.--Christine DeZelar-Tiedman, Univ. of Minnesota Libs., Minneapolis

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