The Clay Messiah

Set against the historically accurate backdrop of the liberation of the Concentration Camp at Dachau, THE CLAY MESSIAH explores our fragile realities and the power of hope. After months on the battlefields of France and Germany, Daniel, an American soldier, is unprepared for the shock of witnessing the inhumanity contained within the walls of a concentration camp. Daniel befriends Avrum, a teenage survivor equally ill-equipped for his sudden "freedom." Natalie, an overtaxed American nurse attached to the Army Evacuation Hospital sent to the camp, forms a bond with both young men. The trio is threatened by Vladik, Avrum's overzealous protector. Under Nazi rule, Avrum had depended on Vladik's golem-like qualities, but after the liberation the benefit of Vladik's protection becomes a liability and eventually a danger.

Independent Press Award, Book Excellence Award

"An enchanting and lively novel that brings clarity, light and love to the darkness of the Holocaust with great tenderness, warmth and wisdom. If only the return of the actual Messiah could come about with such novelistic panache."
- Thane Rosenbaum, The Golems of Gotham and Second Hand Smoke

"...in The Clay Messiah, the achingly profound story of a young American GI and the Jewish boy he liberates from Dachau, novelist Karen Rae Levine has created a wonderfully original and unique narrative,...imbued intriguingly with Jewish mysticism and the figure of the Golem. Sophisticated and bittersweet from start to finish, Levine's story refuses sentimentality or easy answers. Instead it provides the reader with something far more rewarding-surprising insights through a spare yet rich interweaving of diverse personalities drawn together by confounding circumstances that transform their lives forever."
- Jud Newborn, PhD, Sophie Scholl and the White Rose

"[The Clay Messiah] is so clearly a labor of love and the characters and story are imbued with a palpable sense of commitment and care. I am sure this book will connect with audiences and I look forward to hearing the truth about its own travels as people delve into its pages."
- Matt Pasca, A Thousand Doors