A Blessing on the Moon

A magical realist novel about a Jewish man murdered during the Holocaust who returns as a wandering spirit, exploring the horrors of genocide, the resilience of the human spirit, and the enduring power of faith, memory, and hope.

At the center of A Blessing on the Moon is Chaim Skibelski. Death is merely the beginning of Chaim’s troubles. In the opening pages, he is shot along with the other Jews of his small Polish village. But instead of resting peacefully in the World to Come, Chaim, for reasons unclear to him, is left to wander the earth, accompanied by his rabbi, who has taken the form of a talking crow. Chaim’s afterlife journey is filled with extraordinary encounters whose consequences are far greater than he realizes. 

Through magical realism, dark humor, and Jewish folklore, Skibell explores the horrors of the Holocaust and the struggle to find meaning amid unimaginable suffering. The novel reflects on memory, faith, survival, and the possibility of hope and spiritual renewal even in the face of profound evil. Not since art Spiegelman’s Maus has a work so powerfully evoked one of the darkest moments of the twentieth century with such daring originality. Winner of the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts & LettersTurner Prize for First Fiction from the Texas Institute of LettersA Book of the Month Club selectionStephen Crane First Fiction Award shortlistA Publishers Weekly Best Book of the YearA Bookriot “100 Must-Read Books of Jewish Fiction” selection