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Fragile Monsters

By: Catherine Menon
Narrated by: Indira Varma
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

A spellbinding debut novel set between WW2 and contemporary Malaysia.

Mary is a difficult grandmother for Durga to love. She is sharp-tongued and ferocious, with more demons than there are lines on her palms. When Durga visits her in rural Malaysia, she only wants to endure Mary and the dark memories home brings for as long as it takes to escape.

But a reckoning is coming. Stuck together in the rising heat, both women must untangle the truth from the myth of their family's past. What happened to Durga's mother after she gave birth? Why did so many of their family members disappear during the war? And who is to blame for the childhood tragedy that haunts her to this day?

In her stunning debut novel Catherine Menon traces one family's story from 1920 to the present, unravelling a thrilling tale of love, betrayal and redemption against the backdrop of natural disasters and fallen empires. Written in vivid technicolour, with an electric daughter-grandmother relationship at its heart, Fragile Monsters explores what happens when secrets fester through the generations.

As they will learn, in a place ravaged by floods, it is only a matter of time before the bones of the past emerge.
©2021 Catherine Menon (P)2021 Penguin Audio
Fiction Natural Disaster Heartfelt Tear-jerking
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Critic reviews

"A brilliant novel about homecoming and the layered, unstable past that haunts and hurts...I admire it enormously." (Colm Tóibín)

"Supple, artful, skilful storytelling - it takes an immediate grip on the reader's imagination and doesn't let go." (Hilary Mantel)

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Would Recommend

I really enjoyed this book. I willingly immersed myself in its world. The characters brought alive perfectly by the narrator. The writer has some wonderful turns of phase which enhanced the flow of the story. Although the characters weren’t exactly sympathetic, the story kept me hooked enough to want to find out their secrets. It has an ambiguous ending but provides enough answers to satisfy the reader. I would definitely recommend this book.

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