Evil is the furthest thing from 12-year-old Miriam Saperstein’s mind. There’s a new stepfather, a baby brother, and now a move from her tiny Long Island town to Brooklyn to live with a great-grandmother she barely knows. Left to her own devices in an unfamiliar place, Miriam must find something — or someone — to entertain her.
When she meets the elderly neighbor known as “The Iceberg,” the stranger makes an astonishing claim: that they both are part of an ancient line of Jewish women — extending back to the biblical Miriam — capable of protecting others from the Evil Eye.
Are Miriam and The Iceberg deluding themselves, or are they actually part of something mysterious, powerful…and as old as the Torah itself? And will the amulets and blessings they rely on be enough when real Evil turns its eye their way?
The Hand of Miriam is a wholly original coming-of-age story weaving together Jewish tradition, the hidden inner strength of girls and women, and the struggles of finding one’s place in the world.
