ONE OF TELEGRAPHS BEST NOVELS OF 2021SHORTLISTED FOR THE AUTHORS CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2022Supple artful skilful storytelling it takes an immediate grip on the readers imagination and doesnt let go HILARY MANTELMary is a difficult grandmother for Durga to love. She is sharptongued 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 familys past. What happened to Durgas 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 dayIn her stunning debut novel Catherine Menon traces one familys 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 daughtergrandmother 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 TibnA propulsive debut scattered with gems of fresh and surprising imagery Preti TanejaA beautiful richly textured absorbing read. I was utterly transported Irenosen Okojie