The City Beautiful

Winner of the 2022 Sydney Taylor Book Award for Young Adult
2022 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel finalist
2021 National Jewish Book Award finalist
A Lambda Literary Award finalist
2021 Bram Stoker Award Preliminary Ballot for Young Adult Novels
A New York Public Library Best Book for Teens 2021

“An achingly rendered exploration of queer desire, grief, and the inexorable scars of the past.” —Katy Rose Pool, author of There Will Come A Darkness

Death lurks around every corner in this unforgettable Jewish historical fantasy about a city, a boy, and the shadows of the past that bind them both together.  

Chicago, 1893. For Alter Rosen, this is the land of opportunity, and he dreams of the day he’ll have enough money to bring his mother and sisters to America, freeing them from the oppression they face in his native Romania.

But when Alter’s best friend, Yakov, becomes the latest victim in a long line of murdered Jewish boys, his dream begins to slip away. While the rest of the city is busy celebrating the World’s Fair, Alter is now living a nightmare: possessed by Yakov’s dybbuk, he is plunged into a world of corruption and deceit, and thrown back into the arms of a dangerous boy from his past. A boy who means more to Alter than anyone knows.

Now, with only days to spare until the dybbuk takes over Alter’s body completely, the two boys must race to track down the killer—before the killer claims them next.

“Chillingly sinister, warmly familiar, and breathtakingly transportive, The City Beautiful is the haunting, queer Jewish historical thriller of my darkest dreams.”—Dahlia Adler, creator of LGBTQreads and editor of That Way Madness Lies

The Purple Fantastic Steam Rating gives this a 2 out of 5, though not due to steamy scenes in this case. Those are left extremely vague and off the page. But there is reference to sexual assault of children, murder, violence, and yet it handles those subjects pretty carefully and always in context of the larger social issues of the time. It is mature reading, but not too mature for a sensible and mature young reader. You can read more about the Steam Ratings on the About Page.