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Book Summary and Reviews of My Name Is Monster by Katie Hale

My Name Is Monster by Katie Hale

My Name Is Monster

by Katie Hale

  • Published:
  • May 2021, 320 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

After the Sickness has killed off her parents, and the bombs have fallen on the last safe cities, Monster emerges from the Arctic vault which has kept her alive.

When she washes up on the coast of Scotland, everyone she knows is dead, and she believes she is alone in an empty world.

Slowly, piece by piece, she begins to rebuild a life. Until, one day, she finds a girl: another survivor, feral, and ready to be taught all that Monster knows. But as the lonely days pass, the lessons the girl learns are not always the ones Monster means to teach ...

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Taut, tough and sensitive, the narrative conjures up a devastated world, inhabited by two intriguing characters, with precision and real atmosphere." ―Daily Mail

"Powerful and unflinching ... This is a humane, tender and often painful exploration of the ways in which daughters consider themselves to be braver, smarter and more independent than their mothers, as well as the strength of love and hope in an empty world. Hale has crafted a gripping and intense dystopian fairytale ... Beautifully written ... A must-read." ―The Skinny

"Katie Hale has written two fascinating, flawed and compelling characters and, with only two people and an empty world, has created a novel that is gripping, insightful and unique." ―Claire Fuller, author of Our Endless Numbered Days

"A complex, accomplished debut. The prose dazzles while the themes of feminism, power and fertility sneak in for a gut-punch. It kept me gripped from the first page, and the characters continue to live and breathe in my imagination." ―Kirsty Logan, author of The Gracekeepers

This information about My Name Is Monster was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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More Information

Born in Cumbria, Katie Hale is a poet, freelance journalist and educator. She has held Emerging Writer in Residence posts at Theatre by the Lake and Creative Futures Cumbria, and is currently working on an oral story-sharing project with the National Trust. Her debut poetry pamphlet, Breaking the Surface, was published by Flipped Eye in 2017, her poetry has been awarded the Jane Martin and Ware Poetry Prizes, and has been shortlisted for the Ballymaloe International Poetry Prize. My Name Is Monster is her debut novel.

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Read-Alikes

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