* From the winner of the BBC Young Writers' Award 2020 *  

What does it mean to be different in a world that values perfection, at any cost?

'Lottie's writing is a superb flight of the imagination' A.S. Byatt, author of Possession

'Haunting, luridly beautiful, and at times shockingly, deliciously gruesome’ Jenn Ashworth, author of Ghosted

A 'Best Book for May 2024' according to Cosmopolitan

From Lottie Mills, the winner of the BBC Young Writers' Award in 2020, comes this beautifully crafted collection of stories.

A father and daughter build a life for themselves on an isolated beach. But the outside world is pressing in. It's only a matter of time before their secret refuge is discovered.

A young disabled woman opts to receive a perfect, pain-free body. Soon, however, she finds herself haunted by the one she cast off. 

A travelling circus master discovers the ideal addition to his cabinet of curiosities: 'damaged', 'grotesque', gifted. He plans to make her the star of his show; she plans to take her revenge.

Monstrum captures the experience of characters excluded by a society that cannot accept their difference. Eerie, fantastical and hugely ambitious, this collection announces the arrival of an outstanding new literary voice. 

'Lottie's stories reminded me of what matters' Claire Oshetsky

'Magical and haunting' Jan Carson 

'Lottie's writing is a superb flight of the imagination.' A.S. Byatt, author of Possession

'A magical and haunting collection of captivating stories.' Jan Carson, author of Quickly, While They Still Have Horses

‘I was struck by the sheer verve and imagination of it all... A book that is often beautiful, appalling and fantastical, but always utterly truthful.’ Deborah Kay Davies, author of Reasons She Goes to the Woods

'Mills' vivid prose and immediate setting of the tone immerse readers quickly in each of the stories, which are as haunting as they are compelling and imaginative. These modern gothic fairy tales are atmospheric and gripping.' Glamour Magazine, 'Best News Books of May 2024'

'We were blown away by 'The Changeling', it's simply beautiful. I love the way it uses fairy mythology to tell a story about difference, disability, acceptance and coming of age.' Katie Thistleton, BBC Radio 1 presenter and Chair of Judges for BBC YWA 2020

'It's wonderful to encounter the 'spirit animals' roaming through Lottie Mills' stories. There's something essential about their presence, not just to the authenticity and depth of her telling, but to the healing of our broken world.' Em Strang, author of Quinn

'I can't remember the last time I sat down to read a book and became so captivated that I forgot everything else until I came to the end... Lottie's stories reminded me of what matters.' Claire Oshetsky, author of Chouette

'These gleefully modern fairy tales are absolutely alive with the joyful energy of difference, the prose haunting, luridly beautiful, and at times shockingly, deliciously gruesome.' Jenn Ashworth, author of Ghosted: A Love Story

'Monstrum proves that new talent Lottie Mills was a well deserving winner of the BBC Young Writer’s Award 2020... Mills uses visceral, textured, and thematic prose with finesse and simplicity... In the magical, gothic worlds of Monstrum, difference always wins. Those who feel that they are born outcasted or made so by society are, in the end, celebrated – even if only by finally celebrating themselves.' NB Magazine 

'An original, atmospheric and absorbing collection exploring otherness in many forms.' Amazon Summer Reading: Short story collections

'Vividly imagined… Monstrum looks at the body through a playful mythic lens.' Daily Telegraph

Lottie Mills was born in Hampshire and grew up in West Sussex, Hertfordshire, and Essex. She studied English at Newnham College, Cambridge, and in 2020, was awarded the BBC Young Writers’ Award for her short story ‘The Changeling’. Her work has been broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 4, and she has appeared on programmes including Woman’s Hour to discuss her writing. Monstrum is her debut story collection.