Wrath Becomes Her

---

 2024 Sydney Taylor Honor book

YA Nominee for the 2025-2026 Louisiana Readers’ Choice (LYRC/LTRC) Awards

Vera was made for vengeance.

Lithuania, 1943. The Nazis have killed Ezra’s daughter. He can’t bring Chaya back from the dead, but he can craft something in her image—a golem, infused with pointed rage, to avenge Chaya’s death. A Nazi killer made with kishuf, an ancient and profane magic.

When Vera awakens, she can feel her violent purpose—her reason for existing—thrumming within her. But she can feel other things, too: glimpses of a human life lived, of stolen kisses amid the tragedy, and of a grisly death. And when she meets Akiva, she recognizes the boy with soft lips that gave warm kisses. But these memories aren’t hers, and Vera doesn’t know if she gets to have a life beyond what she was made for. If she deserves one.

Vera’s strength feels limitless—until she learns that there are others who would use kishuf for means far less noble than avenging a daughter’s death. As she confronts the very basest of humanity, Vera will need more than what her creator gave her: not just a reason to fight, but a reason to live. 

Discussion Guide

Content Warnings (incomplete)

• Antisemitism

• Genocide

• On page murder and violence

• Death of a parent

• Body horror

Early Praise

☆ “A gut-wrenching, eminently important Holocaust narrative that centers Jewish humanity, and a punch in the face to fascism."—School Library Journal, Starred Review

"A haunting and thoughtful World War II tale with a dark, magical bent."—Kirkus