DOGS AND MONSTERS

A marvel of a collection Kaliane Bradley author of The Ministry of Time There is nothing more terrifying than the monster that squats behind the door you dare not open From the bestselling author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time come eight mesmerising stories exploring care genetics how we treat animals and how we treat other people Mark Haddon weaves ancient fables into fresh and unexpected forms and forges new legends to sit alongside them The myth of the Minotaur in his labyrinth is turned into a wrenching parable of maternal love and of the monstrosities of patriarchy The lover of a goddess Tithonus is gifted eternal life but without eternal youth Actaeon changed into a stag after glimpsing the naked Diana and torn to pieces by his hunting dogs becomes a visceral metaphor about how humans use and misuse animals From genetic engineering to the eternal complications of family Haddon showcases how we are subject to the same elemental forces that obsessed the Greeks Whether describing Laika the Soviet space dog on her fateful orbit or St Anthony wrestling with loneliness in the desert his astonishing powers of observation are at their height when illuminating the thin line between human and animal In sentences as precisely