The Devil Three Times

'A major new talent announces himself' Attica Locke, New York Times bestselling author of Guide Me Home and Bluebird, Bluebird

'A debut of enormous ambition that succeeds on every level. .. a page-turning, rollicking novel' 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 all 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?

Steeped in the spiritual traditions and oral history of the Black diaspora, The Devil Three Times is a baptism by fire and water, heralding a new voice in fiction.

If Milton taught us something sexy about the Devil, this deliciously sacrilegious and profane debut by Rickey Fayne thrusts the dark and needy anti-hero through the sloppy heart of American nation building. In The Devil Three Times, the Laurent family and their black winged guardian - their triumphs or subjections, from the plantation system to the heavenly plane - will sing their way into the consciousness of any reader ready to listen. Fayne's voice triumphs at the nexus of intimacy and violence, reminding us never to look away from what we all, under some banner of fear or righteousness, once dared to want -- Joseph Earl Thomas, author of GOD BLESS YOU, OTIS SPUNKMEYER and SINK
A major new talent announces himself with The Devil Three Times. Rickey Fayne has written a structurally inventive novel that challenges nearly everything we've been taught about God and the Devil and the usefulness of Jesus's love for Black folks. This book is daring, and it challenged me at every turn. I was also deeply moved by its soulful belief in a universe in which we are all connected across generations -- Attica Locke, New York Times bestselling author of GUIDE ME HOME and BLUEBIRD, BLUEBIRD
A debut of enormous ambition that succeeds on every level. This is a page-turning, rollicking novel that is both an intimate family saga and an elegy for the American experience. Not since James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain has a debut conveyed Black spirituality with such passion, style, and brio. From the first page, I was spellbound, and was left devastated by the novel's end. This is what literature is all about -- Nathan Harris, New York Times bestselling author of THE SWEETNESS OF WATER
A brilliant gospel chorus of resilience and humanity. We cover generations with storytelling that is equally smart, sexy, propulsive, and inventive. It's a scary novel that holds armfuls of beauty. Whole pages will stick with you, as they've stuck with me. Rickey Fayne's talent is a joy to behold -- Gabriel Bump, author EVERYWHERE YOU DON'T BELONG and THE NEW NATURALS
Rickey Fayne's extraordinary The Devil Three Times is a book that understands both the sweep of history and its indelible characters' most intimate thoughts. Polyphonic, complex, heartbreaking, beautiful, enveloping, full of the devil and full of grace, this brilliant book is like nothing you've ever read. It reads like music, lore, history, and life itself -- Elizabeth McCracken, bestselling author of THE HERO OF THIS BOOK and BOWLAWAY

Rickey Fayne is a fiction writer from rural west Tennessee. He holds an MA in English from Northwestern University and an MFA in Fiction from the Michener Center for Writers.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.