Before the Devil Knows You’re Here
Teenaged Catalina, her younger brother, Jose Luis, and their widowed Pa live on a hardscrabble farm in the Wisconsin Territory of 1836. Pa takes ill and dies, and before Catalina can bury him, a beast-like man appears at their cabin door. He is covered by bark and plants. Birds and insects flutter through and around his hair. Pa had told Catalina about this Man of Sap, planter of seeds that quickly grow trees with gorgeous but deadly apples. Only days before, three such apples sat by their front door. Pa had crushed them before anyone could take a bite. The Man of Sap, real name John Chapman, grabs Jose and runs off. One of John’s birds lingers as if wanting to point Catalina the way to find her brother. Catalina takes a few things and follows the bird. On the way, she meets a young lumberjack, Paul, who has his own compelling reasons to hunt John down.
This story unfolds through John’s first person and Catalina’s third person points of view, each sharing literary descriptions and deep observations. John explains how he became the Man of Sap, planter of apple tree seeds. Catalina and Paul encounter many strange animals, peculiar people, and plants that seem human. Decades before photography came to the U.S., Catalina also finds photographs from the past related to the larger story. A peculiar devil orchestrating the mayhem confronts and threatens Catalina and Paul. He pretends to be the local empathetic banker but extracts Faustian bargains from those who default on their loans. This young-adult gothic fantasy will appeal to readers wanting an escape to another world ruled by a banker-devil dealing death through irresistible apples.
