The Devil Three Times

<p><b>SHORTLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE 2025</b><br><b><br>''Compelling . . . I raced through this multi-generational, magical realistic story'' </b><i>DAILY MAIL</i><br><br><b>''A page-turning, rollicking novel . . . From the first page, I was spellbound'' </b>NATHAN HARRIS, <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>THE SWEETNESS OF WATER</i><br><br> 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.<br><br> 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 wonderin can he save himself, too?<br><br><b> ''[An] exuberant slice of Southern gothic . . . Fayne follows Percival Everett and Andrea Levy in stressing the rich emotional lives of their characters'' </b><i>FINANCIAL TIMES</i><br><br><b> ''Fayne''s imaginative narrative illustrates how the choices made in each generation ripple through the next''</b> <i>WASHINGTON POST</i><br><br><b> ''Ambitious, rollicking, heartbreaking, multi-vocal . . . it demands to be read over and over''</b> <i>MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE</i></p>