The Art of Exile by Andrea Max; New York: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing; © 2025; ISBN 9781665-959841; 448 pages; $21.99; Publication date: May 13, 2025.
SAN DIEGO – This novel for young adults introduces a secret group of unique people who excel at science and art and who’ve self-exiled since Roman times because their ideas were considered heretical by successive authorities.
Calling themselves “the Makers,” they arrogantly refer to members of the society they left behind as “provincials.” They’ve made great strides in medicine, having developed cures for many kinds of diseases, but they refuse to share them with the provincials, who they fear will put their discoveries to malign use.
The novel is written from the point of view of 17-year-old Ada, an uninitiated member of “The Families,” a secret provincial organization dedicated to rooting out the exiles, aka The Makers, and forcing them to share their discoveries with the rest of the people on earth. Ada’s mother is high up in “The Families” but she has left Ada in the dark about her goals and activities.
All of this changes when Ada meets Michael, a member of The Makers, who recruits Ada to join his exile group which is gathered in remote spots around the world, including an isle shrouded in mist many miles from Bermuda. To get there and to other secret territories occupied by The Makers, one takes a railroad, built under land masses and oceans alike. Michael’s interest in Ada is because whether she knows it or not, she is a “sire,” a person who can direct her life force or “ha’i” to control other living things.
“Ha’i” is pronounced like “chai” (life) in Hebrew, which Ada recognizes because she has one Jewish parent and one Catholic one. Several Jewish references are incorporated into the text.
Ada’s mother encourages her to become a recruit so that she can spy on “The Makers” and report their discoveries back to The Families. Ada, however, soon finds that she is attracted to “The Makers” and so is torn between two loyalties.
Reading this book, I felt author Max may have been influenced by the Harry Potter series. Instead of Potter-like quidditch contests, in which participants ride on brooms, Exiles joust on hoverboards. But the idea of conquering gravity is the same.
For extra thrills, Max also writes about some Exiles being vampires, replenishing themselves with blood from victims whom they put to sleep but don’t kill.
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World.