The City Beautiful

Aden Polydoros

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The City Beautiful won the 2022 Sydney Taylor Book Award for Young Adult, was a 2022 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel finalist, a 2021 National Jewish Book Award finalist, a Lambda Literary Award finalist, a 2021 Bram Stoker Award Preliminary Ballot selection for Young Adult Novels, and a New York Public Library Best Book for Teens. Chicago, 1893. For Alter Rosen, this is the land of opportunity, and he dreams of the day he'll have enough money to bring his mother and sisters to America, freeing them from the oppression they face in his native Romania. But when Alter's best friend, Yakov, becomes the latest victim in a long line of murdered Jewish boys, his dream begins to slip away. While the rest of the city is busy celebrating the World's Fair, Alter is now living a nightmare: possessed by Yakov's dybbuk, he is plunged into a world of corruption and deceit, and thrown back into the arms of a dangerous boy from his past. A boy who means more to Alter than anyone knows. Now, with only days to spare until the dybbuk takes over Alter's body completely, the two boys must race to track down the killer—before the killer claims them next.