The Devil Three Times

An audacious debut spanning eight generations of a Black family in West Tennessee as they are repeatedly visited by the Devil Yetunde awakens aboard a slave ship en route to the United States with the spirit of her dead sister as her only companion. Desperate to survive the hell that awaits her at their destination,Yetunde finds help in an unexpected form–the Devil himself. The Devilseeking a way to reenter the pearly gates of heavendecides to prove himself to an indifferent God by protecting Yetunde and granting her a piece of his supernatural power. In returnYetunde makes an incredible sacrifice. Their bargain extends far beyond Yetunde’s mortal lifespan. Over the next 175 yearsthe Devil visits Yetunde’s descendants in their darkest hour of need: Lucillea conjure woman; Asawho passes for white; Louis and Virgilwho risk becoming a twentieth-century Cain and Abel; Cassandrawho speaks to the dead; Jameswho struggles to make sense of the past while fighting to keep his family together; and many others. The Devil offers each of them his own version of salvationall the while wondering: can he save himselftoo? Steeped in the spiritual traditions and oral history of the Black diasporaThe Devil Three Times is a baptism by fire and waterheralding a new voice in American fiction.