When I was thirteen, my father killed my mother . . . How do you recover from something like that? Carol never quite does. Sent to live with her aunt, who barely tolerates her presence, Carol is grief-stricken and desperate for love. Her Uncle Joey is the only one to notice her; years later, he's also the man with whom she builds a home and a life. But when Carol helps to rescue a young refugee from the sea, that life threatens to unravel, just as surely as it did when she was thirteen.

'Charles Lambert is a seriously good writer' Beryl Bainbridge

'With exquisitely tender writing and quiet authority, Little Monsters is a powerful debut' Jill Dawson

'As memorable first lines go, this is right up there with the best of them, and the rest of Charles Lambert's debut novel doesn't fail to live up to that promising beginning . . . Beautifully written and crafted, and more compelling than many thrillers, Lambert's book puts the reader right in the head of a teenage girl; quite an achievement for a 53-year-old man' Daily Mail