The Way Back

Starred review from August 3, 2020
At once historical and tenderly intimate in scope, Savit’s (Anna and the Swallow Man) ambitious novel begins in the Eastern European shtetl of Tupnik in the 19th century, where the arrival of the Messenger of Death sets two Jewish youths on intersecting paths. The boy, Yehuda Leib, is desperate to recover a soul from Death; the girl, Bluma, eight days his junior, seeks to escape Death’s angel after accidentally acquiring its instrument: a seemingly innocuous but powerful spoon. Both travel into the Far Country, a graveyard-adjacent realm inhabited by demons and the Army of the Dead, attracting the attention of powerful, corrupt demon nobles who see them as tools. Savit suffuses folklore and Jewish mysticism into a narrative tangle of chases and bargains, otherworldly horrors—a wheelchair woven of still-growing fingernails is
particularly memorable—and delicate, compassionate moments, all studded with Yiddishisms. The duo’s journey across the demonic demesnes and the mortal town of Zubinsk, where an open wedding invitation convenes both devout Hasidim and opportunistic entities, all looking to benefit from a holy presence, presents a bewitching allegorical adventure comprised of small, beautifully composed moments. Ages 12–up. Agent: Catherine Drayton, InkWell Management.

August 1, 2020

Gr 7 Up-From the moment a girl leaves her cottage to gather strawberries at the far side of the forest, Savit sets a dark fairy tale tone. Readers fast forward to meet Bluma, the teenage granddaughter of the berry collector, and Yehuda Leib, a poor and scrappy village neighbor of Bluma's age. Told from alternating viewpoints, and incorporating language and elements from Jewish folk tradition, Bluma and Yehuda Leib begin separate adventures-eventually crossing paths on the outskirts of their shtetl of Tupik in a cemetery where "the living world wears thin," and both Bluma and Yehuda Leib cross over into the Far Country. Dark messengers, the Master of Whispers, Lilith, and the Sisters of Lileen inhabit this magical realm. Bluma brings with her a magical spoon, dropped by the Dark Messenger when he took her grandmother, which allows her to see events in altered time. Yehuda Leib enters and encounters the Treasure House of Lord Mammon, who eats a tiny man as a snack, and enlists Yehuda Leib's help in a plot for more power. As they unite over chicken soup in an old hut, with a double-edged dagger at hand, Bluma and Yehuda Leib realize that death comes for everyone in its own time, but need not be faced alone. VERDICT An entrancing historical fantasy, thick with elements of magic and folk tales.-Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley Sch., Fort Worth, TX

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 15, 2020
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* The story begins in the year 1812 in a tiny shtetl called Tupik, but the delightfully twisted tale that follows is timeless. Rooted in Jewish folklore, it flirts with high fantasy as two young residents of Tupik?a girl named Bluma, who inadvertently comes to possess Death's instrument of destruction, and an incorrigible boy named Yehuda Leib?embark on a quixotic quest to defeat Death. It will take them into the dangerous Far Country, the domain of Death and seemingly countless demons, including, notably, Lord Mammon, who teaches Yehuda Leib the folly of striking a deal with a demon. While Yehuda Leib is desperately seeking to recover his dead father's soul, Bluma finds herself unwillingly in the company of Lilith and her Sisters of the Lileen. This is all serious stuff, but it's not without its occasional amusing quirks: Death suffering from a hangover, for example, or Yehuda Leib pushing Mammon in a perambulator. This work of prodigious imagination is especially notable in its author's uncanny ability to create a visceral suspense that captures readers' attention and won't let go as the pages fly by. The book is not perfectly seamless, but it has the integrity of a wholly created alternate world populated with invariably viable characters. Not quite an epic, this will nevertheless claim an enduring place on the fantasy shelf.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2020
In this dark fantasy set in a nineteenth-century shtetl in Eastern Europe, grieving teens Bluma (who's lost her grandmother) and Yehuda Leib (who found and lost his absent father in the same moment) travel to the Far Country and match wits with demons and other figures drawn from Jewish folklore, including the Angel of Death. Narrated with a storyteller's cadence ("And this is how it came to pass that there, beneath her bed, Bluma descended into the sleep of the grieving under the watchful gaze of her own unblinking eyes"), the winding tale is full of creepy characters and intriguing magical objects, as the protagonists are confronted with choices that force them to face mortality. Savit (Anna and the Swallow Man, rev. 1/16) crafts an absorbing fantasy and gives teens plenty to contemplate about life, love, storytelling, and family.

(Copyright 2020 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

September 1, 2020
In this dark fantasy set in a nineteenth-century shtetl in Eastern Europe, grieving teens Bluma (who's lost her grandmother) and Yehuda Leib (who found and lost his absent father in the same moment) travel to the Far Country and match wits with demons and other figures drawn from Jewish folklore, including the Angel of Death. Narrated with a storyteller's cadence ("And this is how it came to pass that there, beneath her bed, Bluma descended into the sleep of the grieving under the watchful gaze of her own unblinking eyes"), the winding tale is full of creepy characters and intriguing magical objects, as the protagonists are confronted with choices that force them to face mortality. Savit (Anna and the Swallow Man, rev. 1/16) crafts an absorbing fantasy and gives teens plenty to contemplate about life, love, storytelling, and family. Shoshana Flax

(Copyright 2020 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from July 15, 2020
A Jewish boy and girl journey to the Far Country on the other side of the cemetery seeking to find that which they lost. The story begins in a shtetl called Tupik, where a boy named Yehuda Leib and a girl named Bluma each have unexpected encounters with Death, setting them both on separate journeys through the cemetery on the edge of the village and into the Far Country, seeking the House of Death to reclaim what they lost. On their way, they pass through the town of Zubinsk, where the holy Rebbe's granddaughter is about to be married in a highly anticipated wedding that draws not only Hasidim and visitors from all over, but also all manner of demons and spirits seeking an audience with the revered Rebbe. Bluma's and Yehuda Leib's winding paths cross until they finally band together to defeat their mutual foe with the help of some unlikely allies they meet along the way. Though their cleverness, grit, and dastardly alliances may get them far in the Far Country, they may not ultimately be enough to defeat Death itself. Lyrical and fantastic, this richly layered yarn is liberally sprinkled with bits of Yiddish and a wry, sparkling humor that balances its darker tendencies with sympathy and warmth. Steeped in the rich traditions of ghost stories and Jewish folklore, this remarkable feat of storytelling is sure to delight. (Fantasy. 13-adult)

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