Monstrum
by Lottie Mills
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Pub Date May 16 2024 | Archive Date May 03 2024
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Description
A DARKLY ATMOSPHERIC AND BEAUTFIULLY CRAFTED MEDITATION ON OTHERNESS, FROM AN AWARD-WINNING YOUNG WRITER
In Lottie Mills' haunting modern fairytales, a father and daughter build a life for themselves on an isolated beach, only to collide painfully with the outside world when their secret refuge is discovered.
A young disabled woman opts to receive a perfect, pain-free body, but soon finds herself haunted by the one she cast off.
A travelling circus master discovers the ideal addition to his cabinet of curiosities. But it isn't long before the star of the show sets out to take her revenge.
Lottie Mills' stories capture the experience of characters excluded by a society that cannot accept their difference. Eerie, fantastical and hugely ambitious, this collection announces the arrival of an outstanding young voice.
Advance Praise
‘I was struck by the sheer verve and imagination of it all... A book that is often beautiful, appalling and fantastical, but always utterly truthful.’ Deborah Kay Davies, author of Reasons She Goes to the Woods
'A magical and haunting collection of captivating stories. Lottie Mills' writing manages to tread the fine line between the grotesque and the exquisite with seemingly effortless ease.' Jan Carson, author of Quickly, While They Still Have Horses
'We were blown away by 'The Changeling', it's simply beautiful. I love the way it uses fairy mythology to tell a story about difference, disability, acceptance and coming of age.' Katie Thistleton, BBC Radio 1 presenter and Chair of Judges for BBC YWA 2020
Available Editions
EDITION | Hardcover |
ISBN | 9780861545629 |
PRICE | £16.99 (GBP) |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
A beautifully written collection full of swans, bear children, dolls, white lions, mermen and dark fairytale imagery incorporated into the real world and all its complex situations, which is used to explore disability, otherness and bodies. As someone with a disability myself, I’m so happy this collection exists and to see more characters with disabilities in fiction- I can’t wait to see what else this author writes! The story ‘The Pain’ will stick with me for a long time, it’s so weird and yet kind of comforting to see someone else put your pain into words like that. Very rarely can I finish a collection, go back and look at the table of contents and remember what every single story was about but I can in this case and will be thinking about them for a long time- highly recommend!
I first heard of Lottie Mills when she won the BBC Young Writers award in 2020 and as such, I was very excited to see that a compendium is due to be released in May. I was overjoyed ot be gifted an ARC from Oneworld publications and "Monstrum" is every bit as intriguing and enchanting as I expected, and then some!
The strength of the narrative is exceptional. Mills crafts a stunningly ambient space, full of fluid darkness and light, equally undulating around dthe storyline and forming into places and people as a sculptor would with clay and stone. .The reason I describe it in this form, is because the clay is carefully moulded into shape, formed and allowed to harden, whereas sculptures either chisels away at a set piece to create a thing of beauty or weaves multiple entities together to create something new entirely. Please exuse my drawn out analogies, this is purely inspiration in trying to describe this rare talent
Monstrum is a compendium of fairy tales reworked and reimagined for a contemporary world and as you are all probably more than aware by now, I adore a good fairy tale retelling and this collection is fresh and unique, ideally placed in contemporary fiction. I enjoyed this book so much that I have read it through three times over the last three weeks and it is one I will likely continue to read over and over
Absolutely a talent to watch and certainly a highly recommended compilation
Thank you to Netgalley, Oneworld Publications and the outstanding author Lottie Mills for this fantastic ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own
#Monstrum #NetGalley
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