The Devils Horsewhip

Name: The Devils Horsewhip
Price: 32.99 AUD
Availability: OutOfStock
ISBN: 9781917352024

Damion Spencer

$32.99

Paperback

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English

Barbican Press
22 August 2025

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

""An imaginative debut""

Sharma Taylor

""Damion Spencer is a voice to look out for""

Irenosen Okojie

The Devil's Horsewhip is a startlingly fine novel-in-stories about Caribbean folklore, superstitions and legends surrounding death 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.

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

A Barbican First debut

By: Damion Spencer
Imprint: Barbican Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
ISBN: 9781917352024
ISBN 10: 1917352026
Pages: 188
Publication Date: 22 August 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

The Devil's Horsewhip Bunka Bat and Sour Orange Death Comes in Threes Patvita Spana and Country Bull Buck and Duppy Conqueror Tangerine Ol' Hige 123 Acres of Unsound Minds Mount Rosser Monkey

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 ""vivid"" with a ""spectacular voice"") and The Caribbean Writer. He was longlisted in the 2022 BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Award for Writers in the Caribbean and received an Honourable Mention for the award the following year. He was longlisted for the 2022 Commonwealth Short Story Prize and shortlisted for the 2021 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize. His work has won a gold medal and was featured in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission's Best of Festival Series.

Reviews for The Devils Horsewhip

""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 collection."" – Sharma Taylor, author of What A Mother's Love Don't Teach You