{"product_id":"9781529097382","title":"Once a Monster","description":"\u0026lt;p\u0026gt;\u0026lt;b\u0026gt;Robert Dinsdale mixes history and mythology with great panache . . . Richly textured and with an appropriately labyrinthine plot, this is a book that explores the monster inside man \u0026amp;mdash; and vice versa. Book of the Month \u0026lt;i\u0026gt;Sunday Times\u0026lt;\/i\u0026gt;\u0026lt;\/b\u0026gt;\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;London, 1861: Ten-year-old Nell belongs to a crew of mudlarks who work a stretch of the Thames along the Ratcliffe Highway. An orphan since her mother died four years past, leaving Nell with only broken dreams and a pair of satin slippers in her possession, she spends her days dredging up coals, copper and pieces of iron spilled by the river barges \u0026amp;ndash; searching for treasure in the mud in order to appease her master, Benjamin Murdstone.\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;But one day, Nell discovers a body on the shore. It\u0026amp;rsquo;s not the first corpse she\u0026amp;rsquo;s encountered, but by far the strangest. Nearly seven feet tall, the creature has matted hair covering his legs, and on his head are the suggestion of horns. Nell\u0026amp;rsquo;s fellow mudlarks urge her to steal his boots and rifle his pockets, but as she ventures closer the figure draws breath \u0026amp;ndash; and Nell is forced to make a decision which will change her life forever . . .\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;\u0026lt;b\u0026gt;From the critically acclaimed author of \u0026lt;i\u0026gt;The Toymakers\u0026lt;\/i\u0026gt; comes an imaginative retelling of the legend of the Minotaur, full of myth and magic and steeped in the grime of Victorian London; perfect for lovers of historical fiction with a mythical twist such as \u0026lt;i\u0026gt;Stone Blind \u0026lt;\/i\u0026gt;and \u0026lt;i\u0026gt;Circe\u0026lt;\/i\u0026gt;.\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;Praise for \u0026lt;i\u0026gt;Once A Monster\u0026lt;\/i\u0026gt;:\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;Imaginative mash-up of the mythical with Victorian gothic. - \u0026lt;i\u0026gt;The Times\u0026lt;\/i\u0026gt;\u0026lt;\/b\u0026gt;\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;\u0026lt;b\u0026gt;A wonderful magic trick of a story\u0026lt;\/b\u0026gt;, full of very human monsters and monstrous humans. \u0026lt;b\u0026gt;Dinsdale is a beautiful, evocative story teller\u0026lt;\/b\u0026gt;. - Stuart Turton, bestselling author of \u0026lt;i\u0026gt;The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle\u0026lt;\/i\u0026gt;\u0026lt;\/p\u0026gt;","brand":"Rye Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45464289870045,"sku":"9781529097382","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0064\/1368\/0730\/files\/9781529097382.jpg?v=1720079999","url":"https:\/\/ryebooks.co.uk\/products\/9781529097382","provider":"Rye Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}