Where Monsters Lie

Polly Ho-Yen's Where Monsters Lie is a haunting mystery for 9 year olds, set in a tiny village beside a loch that every child is warned to keep away from.

What happens

Effie lives in Mivtown, where there are only five families and everybody knows everybody's business. Twice a year the village throws a parcel of cakes and tarts into the dark water. It's an offering to the monsters that are supposed to live there. Effie and her friend Finn don't really believe in them.

Then, on the night of the offering, Buster, the rabbit Effie loves, vanishes from his hutch. The next evening one of the old villagers turns up at the door with a bundle. Buster was found by the loch.

Finn is almost Effie's twin. They were born on the same day and they barely need to speak to understand each other. Together they start secretly building a raft, because the only way to see what's really in the loch is to get out into the middle of it. At home, though, things are hard. Effie's mum cries easily and seems upset whenever Effie goes round to Finn's, and Effie can't work out why.

After one terrible row, Effie says something she can't take back. The next morning her mum has gone. The last person to see her says she was walking towards the loch.

It's quiet and cold and very gripping. The "oldies" who run the village watch everything, and Rosemary Tanner writes it all down in her black book (Effie and Finn call her the Crunkler behind her back). You're right inside Effie's guilt the whole way. Did she leave the hutch open? Why did she say that to her mum?

This is one for a reader who's ready for some big feelings. A much-loved pet dies in the opening chapters, and a parent goes missing soon after, following an argument. There's also a sense that Mum is struggling with something nobody will name. For a child who has recently lost a pet, or who worries about a parent leaving, it could be hard going. For a reader who loves an atmospheric mystery with a real friendship at its heart, it's one to get lost in.

What to read next

If Polly Ho-Yen's writing works for them, try Boy in the Tower. Ade watches his whole city from a windowsill high above it, as something strange starts to arrive.