1. Your novel, blends fairytales, folklore and sapphic romance, what was the inspiration behind writing this story as your debut novel?
My master’s degree focused a lot on the intersection between fairytales/folklore and politics, so it was already an area I had a lot of interest in! I wanted to tell my own version of a fairytale that allowed me to interrogate the power of stories, both positive and negative. Blending it with the tales from Jewish folklore I grew up hearing felt natural and comfortable. The sapphic romance aspect came to be because I’m a big sucker for a subplot romance in fantasy, and had always wanted to write about a woman monster in the woods and the village girl who fell for her, so this novel felt like a perfect conjoining of the two!
2. Did you have a favourite character to write? Or one that kept changing from how you originally imagined them?
I really enjoyed writing Nimrah, the golem character. She constantly struggles with the idea of her humanity, having been born a golem made for a specific purpose (protecting the Yahadi people). She doesn’t believe she’s allowed to want things, or live a life of her own. It was really interesting to write a character like this who isn’t necessarily human, and does not abide by the same rules. She has a tricky relationship with violence and intimacy, which was fun to explore as an author.
3. How does Maiden and Her Monster explore the tension between faith, fear and control? As Religion and institutional power appear as major forces in the book through the Ozmini church.
Control over faith and instigating fear are fundamental parts of how institutions maintain power. Creating ‘in’ groups and ‘out’ groups, people who belong and people who do not. Designating scapegoats. In The Maiden and Her Monster, I wanted to talk about the dangers of religious nationalism, or the belief that a national identity is defined by and exclusive to a specific religion. And I wanted to talk about it in a way that felt intimate—how an individual person, or a family, or a community would experience this society, and what it would mean for the people who have been excluded from the institution’s definition of nationhood.
4. If you could Kiss, Marry or Kill any of your characters, who would they be?
My characters all feel like my children so it’s hard to choose! I’d probably give them all a hug instead, to apologize for what I put them through, haha.
5. What made you select the Golem of Prague as your inspiration for the Golem in this novel, compared to other versions?
Several reasons! One of the first sparks of inspiration for this book came from reading a liturgical text called “The Passion of the Jews of Prague”, which described a horrific pogrom that occurred in Prague on Easter 1389. This led me to the history of Jews in Prague in the Middle Ages, and to the story of the Golem of Prague. Reimagining this particular telling allowed me to play with some of the questions that were plaguing me, about the downfall of the Catholic Church’s power and descent into Protestantism, and the role of marginalized religions in a supposed “Golden Age” of a city or an empire. While nothing is historically accurate in the second world setting of The Maiden and Her Monster, these were all queries I played with in my reimagining.
6. Golem is described as disgraced and inscrutable; how does this challenge the idea of good vs evil and what does this suggest about the nature of monstrosity in this novel?
For me, monstrosity is a mirror. It reflects on society. There’s a great part of Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s “Monster Culture” that says, “The monster dwells at the gates of difference.” Meaning that monsters will always embody people who are “othered”; monsters are what is feared and ostracized in society, and the monster will always remain as long as there’s this cultural/political/social ‘other’ to keep it alive.
Nimrah, in many ways, is this mirror. She was not born, she was created. She reflects people’s fears, their desires. She exists in a defining cultural and political moment where the tides are beginning to shift against the Ozmini church, where there is scapegoating and attempts to cling onto power. She begs the question, “Who is the true monster?” and to answer her, you must look in the mirror.
7. Malka’s Journey begins with a bargain to save her mother, how does this shape her motivations through the novel, and through this does her moral compass change?
At the beginning of the novel, Malka views things as very black and white. For each problem, there is a solution. I think initially this is a bit of a trauma response from her. She’s a fixer and a protector, so she wants the perfect solution for the problems which ail her and her family. Kill the monster, save her mother, fix the problem. But as we know, solutions are rarely that straightforward. When she meets Nimrah and learns that not everything might be as she believed, it rocks her to her core, and it’s a very character-defining moment for her on whether or not she can let go of the stories and narratives she has found comfort in for so long–that offered her a scapegoat of a sort. Whether or not her moral compass changes is an interesting question I’ll leave up to reader interpretation, but one thing that doesn’t change is her desire to protect her family!
8. Do you have any favourite scenes in this novel?
There are a few! The first takes place during a hailstorm in the forest when Malka and Nimrah are forced to take refuge in the cavity of a tree, and have their first emotionally vulnerable conversation. I loved writing this pivotal moment in their relationship, where the thorny nature of it begins to soften. Another one of my favorite scenes is between the Maharal and Malka in the woods. I can’t say much without spoiling, but that whole scene felt healing in a way I’ll always be grateful for.
9. What have you recently been reading/ or read recently that you loved?
I’ve been on a Gothic kick, so I just read Hungerstone by Kat Dunn, which was absolutely delicious. I also recently read The Jasad Crown by Sara Hashem, the final book in the Scorched Throne duology and it was gorgeously rendered and emotionally devastating in the best way. Highly recommend both!
10. If you could have dinner with any influential writers past or present, who would they be?
Mary Shelley! I’d love to pick her brain. I think controversiality is seeped into the Gothic genre, and reception to Frankenstein was certainly nothing but. The way she blends Gothic Horror, Romanticism, and science fiction together is masterful, and I actually think we’d have a great conversation since her creation of Frankenstein was inspired by golem mythology!
