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A review by rachelmariereads
From Dust, A Flame by Rebecca Podos
5.0
I think this book is forever going to hold a place in my heart. I’m so grateful to have been able to read it early (thank you NetGalley for the ARC) and I’m so excited for everyone else to experience it on March 8! Filled with family, Jewish folklore, and a spell-binding mystery, From Dust, A Flame is really something special.
Hannah and Gabe Williams have never spent too long in one place. Whenever their mom, Malka, gets the urge to move, they go where the wind takes them. They don’t know much about Malka’s life before having children, and aren’t aware of any family on their mom’s side. Malka has always been mysterious.
But when Hannah wakes up on the morning of her seventeenth birthday with the eyes of a snake, Malka knows that something from her past has caught up to them. Promising to get help, she disappears. Every morning Hannah wakes up to a new mutation, and every day her confusion and worry grows. Days turn into weeks, and Hannah and Gabe decide they can’t just wait around.
They discover long-lost family, a Jewish heritage that dates back hundreds of years, and a curse that has finally come due. Rebecca Podos has woven an incredibly relevant coming-of-age story, combined with a legacy of survival, stories from the Holocaust, magical Jewish folklore, and a mystery that ties all the pieces together. The ambiance of this book was so rich and steeped in history, and the writing was lyrical and profound. The themes of family and love resonated right down to my soul.
In addition to the Jewish aspects, From Dust, a Flame also explores issues around sexuality, adoption, gender identity, and so much more. This book at once feels incredibly current, and completely timeless. The characters were so well-developed and real, that I felt like I knew them. I especially appreciated the brother-sister relationship, which felt very accurate, and the depiction of parents as flawed people, just doing their best.
This is the kind of book that I wish I had when I was a teen, but I’m so thankful that these stories exist now. From Dust, A Flame is going to stick with me for a long, long time. Pick it up on 3/8!
Hannah and Gabe Williams have never spent too long in one place. Whenever their mom, Malka, gets the urge to move, they go where the wind takes them. They don’t know much about Malka’s life before having children, and aren’t aware of any family on their mom’s side. Malka has always been mysterious.
But when Hannah wakes up on the morning of her seventeenth birthday with the eyes of a snake, Malka knows that something from her past has caught up to them. Promising to get help, she disappears. Every morning Hannah wakes up to a new mutation, and every day her confusion and worry grows. Days turn into weeks, and Hannah and Gabe decide they can’t just wait around.
They discover long-lost family, a Jewish heritage that dates back hundreds of years, and a curse that has finally come due. Rebecca Podos has woven an incredibly relevant coming-of-age story, combined with a legacy of survival, stories from the Holocaust, magical Jewish folklore, and a mystery that ties all the pieces together. The ambiance of this book was so rich and steeped in history, and the writing was lyrical and profound. The themes of family and love resonated right down to my soul.
In addition to the Jewish aspects, From Dust, a Flame also explores issues around sexuality, adoption, gender identity, and so much more. This book at once feels incredibly current, and completely timeless. The characters were so well-developed and real, that I felt like I knew them. I especially appreciated the brother-sister relationship, which felt very accurate, and the depiction of parents as flawed people, just doing their best.
This is the kind of book that I wish I had when I was a teen, but I’m so thankful that these stories exist now. From Dust, A Flame is going to stick with me for a long, long time. Pick it up on 3/8!