Harare Review of Books

176 pages. Published September 12, 2023 by Coffee House Press. Fiction.

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TL;DR I really liked this book! I’ll ponder the ending for a long while…

some spoilers

So, this is a crime novel. A man who’s at loose ends and whose brother was murdered returns to his hometown (the “dwarf” city). He’s vaguely, kind of, looking for answers, and it feels like it’s not just about what happened to his brother. He haunts all of the old places even as he finds a job teaching at a high school, where a pregnant pupil kind of haunts him too. In fact, everything does: the past keeps coming back as if it never left, including in the form of an old girlfriend who offers him a job. And in the end, we’re presented with a possible answer to why his brother was murdered.

It’s all very dreamy and surreal. Juan Sebastián Cárdenas and translator Lizzie Davis have delivered an immaculately written, sparkling read; the prose fairly crackles with what must be the author’s sometimes wry, often moody, and always crisp style. The Devil of the Provinces is a veritable layer cake: the burning sugar cane field and the two Black screenwriters in suits, arm-in-arm—in fact, the whole scene at the hacienda; the ex-girlfriend’s job offer that becomes so pivotal at the end; the long-winded story retold over and over in the climactic scene of the novel.

It’s beautiful, and so subversive towards the reader’s expectations. It’s meditative without seeming that way—simply from its slow, dreamy pace as we hear the thoughts of the protagonist while he wanders. There are many exquisite lines; my (digital) copy is extensively highlighted. I derived a great deal of pleasure from reading The Devil of the Provinces, and I recommend it.

Thanks to Edelweiss and Coffee House Press for DRC access.

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