Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Here is my new home, my place to begin clean, a place that is rotted and overheated and covered in filth.
Things have gone very wrong for Amanda and her family. The previous Winter saw them snowed into their cabin. Amanda’s mother grew ill, and her youngest sister was born blind and deaf. Amanda herself fell prey to cabin fever, the consequences of which she is still suffering from. With news that this year’s Winter is to be even harsher than the previous, Pa decides to move the family away from their mountain home and to the warmer prairie. But what if they are walking away from one hell only to enter another?
Daughters Unto Devils is my second Amy Lukavics book (go check out The Women in the Walls) and I absolutely adored it. It was unsettling and emotional and masterfully ensured the reader rooted for Amanda’s family while also keeping them on the edge of their seat with worry that things would go awry.
Amanda was the perfect main character for this story for many reasons. She is the oldest child and thus her highly religious parents expect much of her, and she expects even more of herself. Being the oldest myself, I can relate to this in many ways. This makes her an extremely conflicted character, scared to be a sinner whilst escaping her troubles through supposed sin. She sees both sides of the coin, and so her perspective is unique to her.
Both the mountain and prairie settings were brilliantly daunting and isolating in their own ways, again, perfect for this tale. On the mountain, the trees crowd around the too small cabin, and the threat of being snowed in was horrible, given their past experience. Meanwhile, the absolute nothingness surrounding the unfamiliar cabin on the prairie was a stark reminder of how every alone they are.
There is truly very little I can say about what occurs after the move, as spoiling anything would be tragic. I can say that the atmosphere went hand in hand with Lukavics’ writing style, and steady story beats, to build a beautifully palpable tension. This book was extremely eerie, and I loved every second of my time with Amanda and her family. The ending especially stirred my imagination, and I was unable to stop thinking of it for days after I had put it down.
If you are fan of horror, atmospheric storytelling, historical settings, and relatable characters, I recommend Daughters Unto Devils. There are some heavy aspects that might disturb some people; [miscarriage, infant death, difficult pregnancy] but Amy Lukavics here has delivered a story that fully managed to tickle my fancy.
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Rebecka O'Malley 