Before the Devil Knows You're Here

by Autumn Krause

Overview

Part dark gothic fantasy, part journey into the bizarre, this delicious blending of tall tales and Latin American surrealism will haunt you as you devour it!

"Highly imaginative and powerfully affecting."—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

1836, Wisconsin. Catalina lives with her pa and brother in a ramshackle cabin on the edge of the wilderness. Harsh winters have brought the family to the brink of starvation, and Catalina has replaced her poet's soul with an unyielding determination to keep Pa and her brother alive.

When a sudden illness claims Pa, a strange man appears—a man covered in bark, leaves growing from his head, and sap dripping from his eyes. He scoops up her brother and disappears, leaving behind a bird with crimson wings. Catalina can’t let this man—if that’s what he is—have her brother. So, she grabs Pa’s knife and follows the bird.

Along the way, she finds help from a young lumberjack, who has his own reasons for hunting the Man of Sap. As their journey takes them deeper into the woods, they encounter strange beasts and tormented spirits. The more they uncover about the Man of Sap, the more they learn how deeply Catalina’s fate is entwined with his, planted long ago in cursed seeds.

An enchanting mixture of American tall tales and Faustian elements, Before the Devil Knows You’re Here centers a fierce Mexican American poet on a quest to save her brother. Autumn Krause’s vivid, haunting prose and rich symbolism make this a must-read for fans of Maggie Stiefvater and Erin Craig.

A Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book of the Year
A Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781682636473
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	10/03/2023
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	156,604
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Autumn Krause is the author of the YA novels A Dress for the Wicked (Harper) and Before the Devil Knows You’re Here (Peachtree Teen/Peachtree). She received her MFA from VCFA and currently lives in Orange County, CA with her husband and three children, and can most often be found wearing a black lace dress.

Editorial Reviews

★ 08/28/2023

In 1836 Wisconsin, Mexican American 17-year-old Catalina lives with her father and younger brother, Jose Luis. Following the appearance of three mysterious apples on their isolated wilderness doorstep, her father suddenly grows ill and dies. Soon after, the Man of Sap—a monstrous figure, made of bark and leaves, from the fairy tales her father spun for her—kidnaps Jose Luis. To recover her brother, Catalina pursues the man into the woods, along the way witnessing the trail of destruction he has left in his wake, and the myriad horrifying entities that populate the world undetected. Demons both physical and psychological plague Catalina as she endeavors to preserve what’s left of her family and discover how the Man of Sap’s mysterious past connects to her own. Via an intoxicatingly woven dual POV, Krause (A Dress for the Wicked) presents a narrative that splits equal time between Catalina, as she undergoes her fierce and unique journey, and John, the Man of Sap, whose history is enriched by complicated introspection that delves into class differences and addiction. By tapping into fears both folkloric and biblical, Krause pulls no punches, injecting this atmospheric telling with original and inviting horrors. Ages 14–up. Agent: Susan Hawk, Upstart Crow Literary. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

11/01/2023

Gr 9 Up—Since the death of her mother, Catalina and her younger brother have frequently moved between cabins in the Wisconsin wilderness with their dreamy father. Teenaged Catalina once wrote poetry but has since abandoned her passion, instead working to keep her family fed. With the sudden appearance of three apples outside their door, Catalina's father erupts into uncharacteristic violence, but this is only the beginning of the family's new woes. A sudden illness claims her father and at his deathbed a monster appears; the monster abducts her brother, and Catalina is left determined to pursue them both. On her hunt, she meets a lumberjack named Paul, also searching for the monster. As the two journey deeper into the wilderness, they begin to learn just how entwined their pasts may be with the Man of Sap. In this book told in dual time lines, readers follow Catalina on her quest for the Man of Sap, while learning how the monster's bargain with the devil caused him to become that way. Readers will slowly connect the work's abundant symbolism to the stories of Johnny Appleseed and Paul Bunyan. The work also draws on the Bible and the poetry of Mexican writer Sor Juana. Elements of horror twine to create the feeling of a haunting American folktale, with apples—themselves symbols of both vitality and decay—at the center. Multiple scenes of animal death are included. Catalina and her brother are biracial Mexican and white. VERDICT A lyrical story of greed, generational curses, forgiveness, and self-acceptance, this folkloric tale is a must-read.—Maggie Mason Smith

School Library Journal

★ 2023-06-21
Folklore, fantasy, and horror are interwoven in this story of a 17-year-old’s journey to save her brother set in 1836 Wisconsin.

The story unfolds as Catalina’s father dies and her brother, Jose Luis, is stolen by the Man of Sap, a monstrosity of bark and leaves. Pa ranted about the terror of the Man of Sap’s deadly apples before he succumbed to them, but when the monster disappears with her brother, Jose Luis, Catalina’s world falls apart. Taking a satchel of supplies, Mamá’s beloved book of poetry by Sor Juana de la Cruz—a treasure from her Mexican homeland—and a knife that belonged to her white Pa, Catalina sets off to find her brother and destroy the Man of Sap. Along the way, she finds friendship, terrifying creatures, whispers of magic, and the key to believing that love is not always lost. Surrounded by poetry, both that of de la Cruz and her own personal writing that she cannot finish, Catalina finds words are a redemptive force. Readers are thrown into an exploration of the heartbreak and loneliness following death and loss, and each character, whether human or otherwise, brings introspection and courage to the tale. Mesmerizingly told through the eyes of both Catalina and the monster, the book invites readers to travel with characters who are reckoning with greed, fear, and love as they consider what makes a monster—and whether monsters can be redeemed.

Highly imaginative and powerfully affecting. (author’s note) (Speculative fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews

★ "Her prose is descriptive and delicate, her mythical world populated with creatures both intriguing and terrifying. Krause delivers an excellently creepy legend perfect for Halloween reading."—Shelf Awareness, Starred Review

★ "Mesmerizingly told through the eyes of both Catalina and the monster, the book invites readers to travel with characters who are reckoning with greed, fear, and love as they consider what makes a monster—and whether monsters can be redeemed. Highly imaginative and powerfully affecting."—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

★ "By tapping into fears both folkloric and biblical, Krause pulls no punches, injecting this atmospheric telling with original and inviting horrors."—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
 
"Catalina’s emotional growth, including reflections on her maternal Mexican heritage (her mother died years earlier) and identity as a poet, and several surprising plot twists carry this riveting tale to a satisfying conclusion."—The Horn Book

"A lyrical story of greed, generational curses, forgiveness, and self-acceptance, this folkloric tale is a must-read."—School Library Journal

"Readerly teens will appreciate Krause’s twisted take on the folk hero Johnny Appleseed, along with her nods to poisonous apples and Faustian bargains."—The Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books

"Rich, lyric prose; eerie monsters and devils; a stake planted in American myth with apple cores and sap. A bizarre and beautiful folktale that will have readers breathless with all its twists and turns." —Andrew Joseph White, New York Times bestselling author of Hell Followed with Us
 
"Before the Devil Knows You're Here offers a fresh look at American history and folklore, weaving familiar mythology into a fantastical and horror-tinged tale about the deals we make to survive and the scars that never fade." —Erica Waters, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The River Has Teeth
 
"Lyrical and poetic, Before the Devil Knows You're Here is a hauntingly beautiful dark fairytale of cursed orchards and Faustian bargains, set to ensnare readers until the final lines."—Lyndall Clipstone, critically acclaimed author of Unholy Terrors.
 
"Deftly blending folklore, poetry, and horror into something wholly original, Before the Devil Knows You're Here immersed me in its world of poisoned apples and deadly bargains. This is a story to savor." —Mara Rutherford, author of The Poison Season

From the Publisher