Scary Monsters

By: Michelle de Kretser

Narrated by: Ric Herbert, Jessica Douglas-Henry

From the twice-winner of the Miles Franklin Award, Scary Monsters is an affecting, profound and darkly funny exploration into racism, misogyny and ageism.

Three scary monsters – racism, misogyny and ageism – roam through this mesmerising audiobook. The dual nature of Scary Monsters is reflected in the fact that this audiobook can be listened to in two different ways – either Lyle or Lili can be heard first, the choice is yours.

Lyle works for a sinister government department in near-future Australia. An Asian migrant, he fears repatriation and embraces ‘Australian values’. Islam has been banned in the country, the air is smoky from a Permanent Fire Zone and one pandemic has already run its course. Lili’s family migrated to Australia from Asia when she was a teenager. Now, in the 1980s, she’s teaching in the south of France. She makes friends, observes the treatment handed out to North African immigrants and is creeped out by her downstairs neighbour. All the while, Lili is striving to be a bold, intelligent woman like Simone de Beauvoir.

Michelle de Kretser's electrifying take on scary monsters turns the novel upside down - just as migration has upended her characters' lives.

©2021 Michelle de Kretser (P)2021 Allen & Unwin

Critic reviews

"Written with incandescent moral energy, boundless compassion and astonishing precision and beauty, Michelle de Kretser's Scary Monsters extends the very possibilities of the novel form. On the contemporary international scene, there are very, very few writers who can match her style, her intelligence, her vision. To read her is to be changed." (Neel Mukherjee)