***ONE OF TELEGRAPH'S BEST NOVELS OF 2021*** ***SHORTLISTED FOR THE AUTHORS' CLUB BEST FIRST
NOVEL AWARD 2022*** 'Supple artful skilful storytelling - it takes an immediate grip on the
reader's imagination and doesn't let go' HILARY
MANTEL______________________________________________ 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.
______________________________________________ 'A brilliant novel about homecoming and the
layered unstable past that haunts and hurts . . . I admire it enormously' Colm Tóibín 'A
propulsive debut scattered with gems of fresh and surprising imagery' Preti Taneja 'A beautiful
richly textured absorbing read. I was utterly transported' Irenosen Okojie
