There Are No Monsters

Liselott Willén

NOMINATED FOR THE 2019 NORDIC COUNCIL LITERATURE PRIZE

After struggling with her university exams and a looming breakdown, Alice moves with her mother to the summerhouse by the sea they left more than ten years ago. They family haven’t been back to the house since that fateful summer when Alice’s father disappeared. Once there, matters get worse and Alice is plagued by flashbacks and dark, confusing memories from her childhood. Far from the peaceful existence she was looking forward to, being in the house opens up a door to Alice’s past. A past full of repressed memories from her childhood, and her own role in what happened that summer ten years ago.

THERE ARE NO MONSTERS is a literary novel with a suspenseful undertone, about what happens to a child’s psyche when pushed to extremes, and an adult’s need to sometimes rewrite our own history to be able to understand ourselves as we are today.