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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
Some
Period violence in a tense alternate Reconstruction New Orleans; some danger
Language
Some
Moderate language; New Orleans patois and period register
Sexual Content
Barely any
Brief adult references in a period context
Substance Use
None
No substance use
Emotional Intensity
Some
The power of a divine possession in a world that doesn't know what to do with you, an alternate history that takes Black and Caribbean spiritual traditions seriously, a girl making herself useful before she has any other options
What this book is about
New Orleans, 1884. The city exists in a tense treaty zone — Confederate, Union, and the city itself — while the Caribbean still remembers what it has always known. Creeper is a thirteen-year-old girl who carries the Yoruba goddess Oya inside her, a divine presence that manifests in storms. When a scientist goes missing with a weapon that could destroy the city, Creeper has to act. P. Djèlí Clark's Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning novella is gorgeous, specific, and absolutely assured.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
period racism as setting
Yoruba spiritual possession as central concept
novella length — substantial but brief
Reader Verification
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