Author | Carol Topolski |
---|---|
Language | English |
Publisher | Fig Tree |
Publication date | Jan 2008 |
Publication place | United Kingdom |
Media type | |
Pages | 272 |
ISBN | 1-905490-26-7 |
Monster Love is the debut novel of English author Carol Topolski, published in 2008 by Fig Tree, [1] an imprint of Penguin and was nominated for the Orange Prize for Fiction. According to The Guardian it 'shocked and impressed in equal measure' [2] and has been compared to Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin . [3]
Set in an affluent Manchester suburb [4] it concerns Brendan and Sherilyn Guttridge and their daughter Samantha, who has not been seen for weeks. The story is told in mostly first person accounts of the couple themselves and of those who come into contact with them. Their love for each other is all-consuming and nothing is allowed to disturb it including the birth of their daughter. [5]
In an interview with Amazon.co.uk the author reveals 'I wanted to explore what lies behind the kind of tabloid headlines that scream "PERVERT! BEAST! MONSTER!" when someone is accused of a heinous crime ... Killing a child – especially your own – ranks high in the hierarchy of unconscionable acts, so I embarked on an archaeological dig in the Gutteridges' history, hoping to disinter whatever had caused them to kill their child.' [6]
The author herself is a practicing psychoanalytic psychotherapist and in her professional life she has 'struggled to discover what froths behind masks and make sense of things that often appear senseless'. [7]
Alex Larman writing in The Guardian praises the first half of the book and its 'psychological acuity' but is disappointed by its "slow decline into more routine 'blame the parents' plotting". [8] James Urquhart in The Independent also remarks on the strength of the 'emotional realism' in the opening chapters and agrees that the novel ultimately 'loses its way'. Both reviewers though see much promise in this debut and look forward to the author's future work.
The Carnegie Medal for Writing, established in 1936 as the Carnegie Medal, is an annual British literary award for English-language books for children or young adults. It is conferred upon the author by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), who in 2016 called it "the UK's oldest and most prestigious book award for children's writing".
Joanne Michèle Sylvie Harris is a British author, best known for her 1999 novel Chocolat, which was adapted into a film of the same name.
The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize was a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature by an author from the Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and published in the United Kingdom. Established in 1942, it was one of the oldest literary awards in the UK.
The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annual recognised one fiction book written for children or young adults and published in the United Kingdom. It was conferred upon the author of the book by The Guardian newspaper, which established it in 1965 and inaugurated it in 1967. It was a lifetime award in that previous winners were not eligible. At least from 2000 the prize was £1,500. The prize was apparently discontinued after 2016, though no formal announcement appears to have been made.
The Carnegie Medal for Illustration is a British award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) which inherited it from the Library Association.
The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each year by the Society of Authors. Set up by William Somerset Maugham in 1947 the awards enable young writers to enrich their work by gaining experience in foreign countries. The awards go to writers under the age of 35 with works published in the year before the award; the work can be either non-fiction, fiction or poetry.
The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is a prize for poetry awarded by the T. S. Eliot Foundation. For many years it was awarded by the Eliots' Poetry Book Society (UK) for "the best collection of new verse in English first published in the UK or the Republic of Ireland" in any particular year. The Prize was inaugurated in 1993 in celebration of the Poetry Book Society's 40th birthday and in honour of its founding poet, T. S. Eliot. Since its inception, the prize money was donated by Eliot's widow, Valerie Eliot and more recently it has been given by the T. S. Eliot Estate.
Graham William Joyce was a British writer of speculative fiction and the recipient of numerous awards, including the O. Henry Award, the World Fantasy Award, and six times the British Fantasy Award for both his novels and short stories.
The Forward Prizes for Poetry are major British awards for poetry, presented annually at a public ceremony in London. They were founded in 1992 by William Sieghart with the aim of celebrating excellence in poetry and increasing its audience. The prizes do this by identifying and honouring talent: collections published in the UK and Ireland over the course of the previous year are eligible, as are single poems nominated by journal editors or prize organisers. Each year, works shortlisted for the prizes – plus those highly commended by the judges – are collected in the Forward Book of Poetry.
The Dylan Thomas Prize is a leading prize for young writers presented annually. The prize, named in honour of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas, brings international prestige and a remuneration of £30,000 (~$46,000). It is open to published writers in the English language under the age of forty. The prize was originally awarded biennially but became an annual award in 2010. Entries for the prize are submitted by the publisher, editor, or agent; for theatre plays and screenplays, by the producer.
The Booktrust Teenage Prize was an annual award given to young adult literature published in the UK. The prize was administered by Book Trust, an independent charity which promotes books and reading. The Booktrust Teenage Prize was last awarded in 2010 and is no longer running.
The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize is the United Kingdom's first literary award for comic literature. Established in 2000 and named in honour of P. G. Wodehouse, past winners include Paul Torday in 2007 with Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and Marina Lewycka with A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian 2005 and Jasper Fforde for The Well of Lost Plots in 2004. Gary Shteyngart was the first American winner in 2011, and 2020 saw a graphic novel take the prize for the first time.
Patrick Ness FRSL is an American-British author, journalist, lecturer, and screenwriter. Born in the United States, Ness moved to London and holds dual citizenship. He is best known for his books for young adults, including the Chaos Walking (2008–2010) trilogy and A Monster Calls (2011).
Carol Topolski is a British novelist. Before becoming a full-time writer she was a practising psychoanalytic psychologist and she drew on her experiences in writing her first novel, Monster Love which was published in 2008. According to The Guardian it 'shocked and impressed in equal measure' and has been compared to Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin. Her second novel Do No Harm was published in 2010.
The BBC National Short Story Award has been described as "one of the most prestigious [awards] for a single short story" and the richest prize in the world for a single short story. It is an annual short story contest in the United Kingdom which is open to UK residents and nationals. As of 2017, the winner receives £15,000 and four shortlisted writers receive £600 each.
TheWriters' Prize, previously known as the Rathbones Folio Prize, the Folio Prize and The Literature Prize, is a literary award that was sponsored by the London-based publisher The Folio Society for its first two years, 2014–2015. Starting in 2017, the sponsor was Rathbone Investment Management. At the 2023 award ceremony, it was announced that the prize was looking for new sponsorship as Rathbones would be ending their support. In November 2023, having failed to secure a replacement sponsor, the award's governing body announced its rebrand as The Writers' Prize.
Will Eaves is a British writer, poet and professor at the University of Warwick.
Ingrid Persaud is a Trinidad and Tobago-born writer, artist, and academic, who lives in the United Kingdom. She won the BBC National Short Story Award in 2018, and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2017, with her debut effort The Sweet Sop. The story is about an estranged father and son reunited through their shared love for chocolate.
The Costa Book Award for Children's Book, formerly known as the Whitbread Award (1971–2005), was an annual literary award for children's books, part of the Costa Book Awards, which were discontinued in 2022, the 2021 awards being the last made.
Different Class is a 2016 literary crime novel by Joanne Harris. Although all three books stand alone, it forms the second book in a trilogy that begins with Gentlemen and Players, and ends with A Narrow Door. It also exists as an unabridged audiobook, narrated by Steven Pacey and Ewan Goddard.