Indies Introduce

Fiction

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  The Monster's Daughter, Michelle Pretorius
  Melville House, 9781612195384, July 19, 2016 (Fiction)
  

  “Can science fiction, historical fiction, and a serial murder mystery peacefully coexist in the same novel? In The Monster’s Daughter, the answer is an emphatic yes. Clearly drawn characters converge to resolve a decades-old mystery and move to a tense and satisfying conclusion.”

  Joe Strebel, Anderson’s Bookshop (Naperville, IL)
  
  

  “Set in South Africa, The Monster’s Daughter spans the 20th century and delves into all the horror of apartheid, the Boer Wars, British Occupation, and human experimentation. It is part mystery, part historical fiction, part science fiction, and, above all, a page-turning read. It begins in 2010 with a body ‘necklaced’ and burned, making identification arduous. The main character, Alet Berg, is a recently disgraced police officer. She is trying hard to reestablish herself despite reassignment to an out-of-the-way town. Issues of race are never far from the surface: the Truth and Reconciliation Commission meetings are over and South Africa is trying to move forward, but the past — especially that which we do not know — haunts each character. The past is delivered to us in parallel narratives through the eyes of a British soldier, a young Dutch girl, and a black woman, whose lives intersect to create a story that reaches all the way to 2010. I will be waiting anxiously for Pretorius’ next novel!” 

  Linda Sherman-Nurick, Cellar Door Bookstore (Riverside, CA)