The Devil Three Times: 'An exuberant slice of Southern gothic' (Financial Times)
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SHORTLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE 2025
'Compelling . . . I raced through this multi-generational, magical realistic story' DAILY MAIL
'A page-turning, rollicking novel . . . From the first page, I was spellbound' NATHAN HARRIS, New York Times bestselling author of THE SWEETNESS OF WATER
The Devil first visits Yetunde aboard a slave ship heading to America. Her home burned to ash, she lies shackled in the belly of the ship with only her dead sister's spirit for company. Worse, she has a caught the eye of a white man. To survive the hell that awaits her, the Devil offers his protection and a piece of his supernatural power. In return, Yetunde makes an incredible sacrifice.
Their bargain extends far beyond Yetunde's mortal lifespan. Over the next 175 years, the Devil visits her descendants in their darkest hour of need. There's Lucille, a conjure woman; Asa, the white-passing son of a slave; Louis and Virgil, a twentieth-century Cain and Abel; Cassandra, a girl who speaks to the dead; James, a father struggling to keep his family together; and many others. The Devil offers each of them his own version of salvation, all the while wondering: can he save himself, too?
'[An] exuberant slice of Southern gothic . . . Fayne follows Percival Everett and Andrea Levy in stressing the rich emotional lives of their characters' FINANCIAL TIMES
'Fayne's imaginative narrative illustrates how the choices made in each generation ripple through the next' WASHINGTON POST
'Ambitious, rollicking, heartbreaking, multi-vocal . . . it demands to be read over and over' MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE
Read MorePraise for The Devil Three Times
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Fayne's debut novel does not lack for ambition . . . this family history contains magic and despair, migrations and hauntings - and echoes of the country's complex, often painful racial history writ large - NPR[An] ambitious debut . . . the prose is consistently crisp and suffused with a feeling of hauntedness - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)A monumental debut. Fayne is a voice to be reckoned with . . . A book that embodies Black America in the past, present, and future - DebutifulThis brilliant book is like nothing you've ever read. It reads like music, lore, history, and life itself
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