Meet Eve Goodman. She’s about to turn 40 and her younger sister is getting married. Eve has been mourning the sudden death of her father for a year now and is trying to get her act back together. Eve, her mother and her sister have all been handling their grief in completely different ways. Eve “threw herself into work, started eating everything in sight, and stopped making any decisions.”

Between the pressure from the upcoming family wedding (her sister is a well-known TikTok influencer and has been posting lots of wedding-related videos) and expected layoffs at her Chicago marketing agency, Eve is stressed. Her best friends have also been acting a bit oddly and she doesn’t know why. In addition to all this, she’s faced with the upturn in antisemitism, both around the world and right there in Chicagoland. In fact, her family’s synagogue has just had a bomb threat (that turned out to be a false alarm) and she is verbally assaulted for being Jewish while on a Chicago train ride, while wearing one of those “ugly Christmas/Hanukkah sweaters” in honor of the season. So Eve is very stressed. Not a spoiler due to the title of the book - while drunk she somehow manages to create a golem.

For anyone who doesn’t know what a golem is - it is an animated, anthropomorphic being in Jewish folklore, which is created entirely from inanimate matter, usually clay or mud. (Thank you to Wikipedia for this brief definition.) Its purpose is to protect the Jewish people. It doesn’t have free will but will do whatever its master/mistress tells it to do. (A mixed blessing, as you may imagine.) This particular golem is rather handsome and Eve is determined to bring this golem as her Plus One to her sister’s wedding. The scenes of her shopping for appropriate clothing for him and dining out with him were pretty funny. This golem LOVED coffee!

There are some really wonderful observations about everyday modern life, social media, etc. “It’s so easy to just keep things surface level. Do a cursory check-in, hit the proverbial like button, and just move on.”

(Quotes are from an advance readers copy and may be changed in the final, published book.)

Thank you to NetGalley and MIRA for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.