In her newest nov­el, Jean Meltzer explores Jew­ish joy and folk­lore as well as anti­semitism in dai­ly life. Through her strong-willed, eclec­tic char­ac­ters, she high­lights the fears and con­cerns that many Jew­ish peo­ple share.

Faye Kaplan owns a pot­tery shop in Wood­stock, New York. One night, after a sin­gles event at her local syn­a­gogue, she finds the streets lit­tered with anti­se­mit­ic fly­ers. Unable to sleep, Faye starts to craft her ide­al man out of clay — until she believes she has made a golem. The next day, Faye hits Greg, a stranger, with her bike. The stranger, who hap­pens to look a lot like the man she built the night before, remem­bers noth­ing before the crash. As Faye and Greg search for Greg’s iden­ti­ty, he begins to act more and more like a golem, try­ing to pro­tect Faye from the dan­gers of the world around her. He also hap­pens to check every box on her list.

With Mag­i­cal Meet Cute, Meltzer has cre­at­ed the per­fect escape. Through what she describes as ​“Jew­itch” romance, she cap­tures an aspect of Judaism not nor­mal­ly seen in romance nov­els. The char­ac­ters sup­port the Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty and hold each oth­er account­able, espe­cial­ly as they work togeth­er to fend off the anti­semitism that plagues their town. Faye is a rich­ly drawn char­ac­ter who is work­ing to over­come famil­ial trau­ma and to love her­self and some­one else. Meltzer’s depic­tion of romance is patient and kind.

For read­ers look­ing for a nov­el that is the equiv­a­lent of a ray of sun­shine, Mag­i­cal Meet Cute is the per­fect book. Fun­ny and heart­warm­ing, it is both a love sto­ry and a tale of Jew­ish tri­umph over hatred.