Akwaeke Emezi’s Pet, published in 2019, is a Speculative Fiction/Fantasy novel intended for Young Adult readers. Named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time, Pet was also a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. The novel received the Stonewall Book Award, which recognizes achievement in LGBTQIA+ literature. Emezi, a non-binary Nigerian Igbo and Tamil writer who uses they/them pronouns, is also the author of two novels for Adults which explore themes of gender, sexuality, and spirituality: Freshwater (2018) and The Death of Vivek Oji (2020).

Please be aware that Pet includes depictions of child sexual and physical abuse.

Plot Summary

Pet takes place in a utopian future after a revolution that vanquished all monsters from the world. In Pet, “monsters” represent all the evils, systemic inequalities, and injustice that exist in a society. In the future, children are taught that “angels” rid America of monsters and the world is now completely safe. These “angels” represent the revolutionaries who abolished prisons, prosecuted and rehabilitated corrupt police officers, and removed statues of slave-owners and racists. Anti-gay and anti-trans hatred as well as racism are now relics of the past.

The town of Lucille, the birthplace of the Revolution, is peopled by African Americans from across the diaspora. The residents love their peaceful town, and the adults maintain that there are no more monsters left in Lucille. The protagonist of the novel is a 15-year-old Black transgender girl named Jam who selectively uses sign language to communicate (she only speaks verbally to her mother) and has anxiety, often communicating in sign language. Jam’s parents, Bitter and Aloe, support Jam’s curiosity about monsters and encourage her to think critically.

One day, Jam cuts her hand on a razor blade embedded in one of her mother’s paintings and bleeds on the canvas. A large creature emerges through the canvas. It is faceless, but has Bitter’s hands, and is covered in golden feathers with ram’s horns, golden claws, and goat hooves for feet. The creature communicates telepathically with Jam, and it tells her to call it “Pet.” Though Jam fears Pet, she does not believe that something her mother created can hurt her. Pet tells Jam that it is not a monster; it is there to hunt a monster and needs Jam’s help. Pet tells Jam that the monster is in the house of Jam’s best friend, Redemption.

Pet confronts Jam’s parents, and Jam discovers that Bitter’s art has come to life before. Bitter and Aloe refuse to believe that there could be a monster in Lucille. They tell Jam to send Pet back from where it came. Jam pretends to obey but refuses to put Redemption at risk. Jam goes to Redemption’s house to search for the monster. Redemption lives with his younger brother, Moss, and his polyamorous parents. Though Pet encourages her to see “the unseen,” Jam is unable to identify the monster.

Jam learns that monsters and angels are both people and does not know what to do. She tells Redemption about Pet but not about where the monster resides. Jam and Redemption go to the library, where they find pamphlets on child abuse from before the Revolution. Redemption realizes that Moss displays signs of a child who has been abused. They speak to Moss, who draws a picture of a flower to name his abuser: Redemption and Moss’s uncle Hibiscus, a former angel and respected citizen. It is implied that Hibiscus’s wife, Glass, is aware of the abuse and has done nothing to stop him. Redemption’s parents do not believe him when he tries to tell them about the abuse, refusing to believe that a monster could still exist.

Jam, Redemption, and Pet lure Hibiscus to the basement by pretending that Redemption has suffered an injury. Hibiscus hurts Jam’s wrist in the confrontation and Pet is eager to kill him. Jam convinces Pet to leave Hibiscus alive as an example for the town. Pet reveals itself to be a real angel, a creature modeled on the way that angels are depicted in the Bible. Pet’s true face burns Hibiscus’s eyes out of his head, and Hibiscus confesses to his crimes.

After a hearing, Hibiscus and Glass are taken away for rehabilitation. Angels in Lucille, shaken from their complacency, begin to implement programs to ensure that monsters will not slip through the cracks. Adults no longer believe that monsters do not exist. Moss is free of Hibiscus and taken care of by his apologetic parents. Jam and Redemption have lost their innocence but are both now capable of seeing things that the world would rather keep hidden. Pet returns to where it came from after making Jam promise that she will not be afraid.