- Home
- Padraig Kenny
The Monsters of Rookhaven Page 21
The Monsters of Rookhaven Read online
Page 21
Now Piglet rolls over. He is very tired from all his recent exertions, and he just wants to rest for a bit. But before he goes to sleep Piglet smiles as he thinks of Mirabelle and the woman.
Because now Piglet knows what love is.
The End
Author’s Note
I love monsters. I always have.
When I was young, I devoured everything containing monsters. When it came to books, movies and comics, monsters were all I cared about. I liked movies about ants and spiders turned into giants after exposure to radiation. I liked stories about robots running amok. I liked comic-strip stories about dinosaurs. For me, monster stories were a distraction from everyday life, the boredom of things like school, and growing up in a town where there was nothing to do. One of my favourite stories when I was young was about a slime monster that came from the bottom of the ocean to devour the unsuspecting inhabitants of a small town. I couldn’t have been happier. It fulfilled the two most important criteria for me: the monster looked horrible, and it ate people.
I liked monsters because they were simple, uncomplicated, and you could recognize them for what they were straight away.
Except they aren’t, and you can’t.
As I got older, I realized that there was more to monsters than meets the eye. Sometimes a monster isn’t just a monster. Sometimes a monster is a metaphor for a specific fear. The giant spiders and ants transformed by radiation were all metaphors for humanity’s fear of the nuclear age. The voracious slime monster I’d read about as a child was a metaphor for a fear of the unknown.
Then there were the complicated monsters. Monsters like King Kong, who I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for, as he toppled from the Empire State Building. The tragic figure of Frankenstein’s monster in the old black-and-white movies with his plaintive ‘Alone, bad . . . friend, good’. He was simply yearning for companionship in a world that was hostile to his very existence. These were monsters in terms of their appearance, but they were far from simple.
When I started writing this book I wanted to write about monsters, but I wanted there to be more to them. I wanted people to be able to empathize and sympathize with them. Slime monsters devouring people are all well and good, but my monsters needed to have another dimension beyond their appearance.
As usual I started with fragments, bits and pieces, strange images, and odd disconnected phrases. I created a family of monsters, because for some reason, I always end up writing about family. Two young girls appeared. I realized they were both lost and alone, and so I ended up writing about friendship, because for some reason, I always end up writing about friendship.
Then I had an image of a huge locked door, deep in the bowels of a grand old house, and I wondered what if there was a monster that the monsters themselves were afraid of? So, I asked myself why they would be afraid of such a creature. I had the answer almost immediately.
Now I had my story.
I found myself writing not just about the family, but about real monsters, because as I’ve gotten even older I’d realized that real monsters do exist. They aren’t the types that come to your bedroom window in the middle of the night with vampire fangs. They aren’t clawed, slavering beasts that howl at the moon. These were monsters who spread hate and fear through whispers and lies. Deceitful creatures who look like us, but who in their own insidious way, turn ordinary people into monsters themselves.
This is a story about monsters.
Monsters can be simple, they can be complicated. They can breathe fire and have three heads, and we can be frightened of them and empathize with them.
I love monsters. I always have.
But I like to keep an eye out for the real ones.
Acknowledgements
I want to thank everyone at Macmillan Children’s Books for their help in getting my book into the world and into readers’ hands. Special thanks to Venetia Gosling for her wonderful editing, her professionalism, and her attention to detail. My thanks to Lucy Pearse too, for her incredibly helpful insights and her hard work behind the scenes. I’d also like to thank Jo Hardacre and the whole Communications team for all their help. Thanks also to Christian Trimmer at Henry Holt and Company for his input and feedback. I’m eternally grateful to all of for your help during these very strange circumstances, especially at a time when things couldn’t have been easy for anybody.
Special thanks to Edward Bettison for his breathtaking illustrations which have turned my humble book into something that looks and feels truly special. Thanks also to Tracey Ridgewell for her beautifully designed interiors and to Art Director, Rachel Vale, for her cover design and help getting the book to look as wonderful as it does.
I’d like to acknowledge the assistance provided by the Arts Council of Ireland in enabling me to finish this book. I’m very grateful for their help.
Thanks once again to my agent, the incomparable Sophie Hicks; Sophie you are one in a million.
I’d like to thank my friends and family for all their support in the past few years. A special thank you to everyone who came to my book launches, it’s something I always appreciate.
Inspiration sometimes comes from the most unexpected places. I came across the music of Hilary Woods at just the right time, and it helped me unlock the story of Mirabelle and Jem. Thank you for that, Hilary.
And lastly, a special thank you to Trevor Malone for helping out at the very beginning. Cheers, Trev.
About the Author
Pádraig Kenny is an Irish writer from County Kildare, now living in Limerick with his wife and four children. Previously an arts journalist, a teacher and a librarian’s assistant, he now writes full-time.
His first novel, TIN, was a Waterstones Book of the Month and was nominated for the Carnegie Medal, as well as being shortlisted for the Irish Book Award and several regional awards. The Monsters of Rookhaven is his first novel with Macmillan Children’s Books.
About the Illustrator
Edward Bettison is a graphic designer and illustrator, born in Hull. After studying Graphic Design at Nottingham Trent University, he moved to London to work in the music industry and then on to publishing.
He is known for the intricate detail in his original works, authenticity of vision and bold imagery.
He lives in Brighton with his partner Susannah and his 12-year-old son Kip.
Published 2020 by Macmillan Children’s Books
This electronic edition published 2020 by Macmillan Children’s Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
The Smithson, 6 Briset Street, London EC1M 5NR
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-5290-3149-2
Text copyright © Pádraig Kenny 2020
Illustrations copyright © Ed Bettison 2020
The right of Pádraig Kenny and Ed Bettison to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The Monsters of Rookhaven receives financial assistance from the Arts Council
Pan Macmillan does not have any control over, or any responsibility for, any author or third-party websites referred to in or on this book.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Visit www.panmacmillan.com to read more about all our books and to buy them. You will also find features, author interviews and news of any author events, and you can sign up for e-newsletters so that you’re always first to hear about our new releases.
bsp;
Pádraig Kenny, The Monsters of Rookhaven