A Barbican First debut
āAn imaginative debutā ā Sharma Taylor
āDamion Spencer is a voice to look out forā ā Irenosen Okojie
āA visceral debut… with a chilling immediacyā ā Bocas Lit Fest
The Devil’s HorsewhipĀ 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 asĀ vivid and with a spectacular voice.
At the pinnacle of the pandemicāa year already punctuated with daily funeral processionsāa 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.
If you’re superstitious or wary of those who are, come read these sticky tales spun in barbwire.
