Front cover of

The Devil’s Horsewhip

By Damion O. Spencer

Front cover of

Category: All Books, Barbican First, Fiction, World Literature

Formats available: Paperback, Ebook

Pages: 188

Publication date: 15/05/25

ISBN-13: 9781917352024

ISBN-10: 1917352026

A Barbican First debut

“An imaginative debut” – Sharma Taylor

“Damion Spencer is a voice to look out for” – Irenosen Okojie

“A visceral debut… with a chilling immediacy” – Bocas Lit Fest

The Devil’s Horsewhip is a startlingly fine novel-in-stories about Caribbean folklore, superstitions and legends surrounding death in all its permutations by a writer whose prose judges at Wasafiri have described as vivid and with a spectacular voice.

At the pinnacle of the pandemic—a year already punctuated with daily funeral processions—a Jamaican expat gets an envelope covered in red writing from his doctor. It sends him into a mad tumble between bad omen days and fever dream nights until all that he thinks about is that bitter day in the Jamaican White River Valley, where he and other teenagers escaped a double-cutlass-wielding madman out for blood. But death is not one to give up easily. The years are not long enough, neither is fleeing across continents too far for death’s spite and all the worse duppies not to come knocking.

Who will cheat death a second time?

A Christian woman who decides to sleep with an obeah man’s monkey. The man with the answer to whether Haitian voodoo is stronger than obeah. A woman who knows how to mourn a dead baby. Or the ones who know how to trap a rolling calf, outrun a three-foot horse, and battle a Chinese duppy and win.Barbican First logo

If you’re superstitious or wary of those who are, come read these sticky tales spun in barbwire.

Reviews

'The Devil's Horsewhip' is a visceral debut novel-in-stories, an exploration of death and darkness in the lives of characters who have evaded that ultimate fate once before. Bringing Jamaican folklore and ritual to bear on its protagonists' fates with a chilling immediacy, 'The Devil's Horsewhip' keeps one foot in the subgenre of literary suspense: duppies, walking death, and other spectral visitations are never far from Spencer's prose. Other themes addressed in the novel are an expatriate configuration of home, cultural alienation, and rituals of remembrance in the throes of grief.

- Bocas Lit Fest

Damion Spencer writes vividly and with spectacular voice, creating a life writing piece that thrills.

- Wasafiri on 'Death Comes in Threes'

A brilliant, enthralling read. Damion Spencer is a voice to look out for.

- Irenosen Okojie, author of Nudibranch and Curandera

Damion Spencer is a fresh new voice in Caribbean fiction. He weaves compelling tales with impactful characters in this imaginative debut.

- Sharma Taylor, author of What A Mother's Love Don't Teach You

Headshot of author Damion Spencer

Damion O. Spencer

Damion O. Spencer is originally from St. Mary in Jamaica, and now lives in Tokyo, Japan. He holds a BEd (Hons) in Literacy Studies from the University of the West Indies, Mona, and an MA with Distinction in Creative Writing from the University of Hull. His work explores the vestiges of colonialism and the effect of urban living on well-being and mental health via the immigrant experience. Versions of stories in his debut collection The Devil’s Horsewhip have been published by both Wasafiri (whose prose judges said his work was …

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