Somewhere on the South African veld, 1901: At the height of the Boer War, a doctor at a British concentration camp conducts a series of grim experiments on Boer prisoners. His work ends in chaos, but two children survive: a boy named Benjamin, and a girl named Tessa.
One hundred years later, a disgraced young police constable is reassigned to the sleepy South African town of Unie, where she makes a terrifying discovery: the body of a woman, burned beyond recognition. The crime soon leads her into her country's violent past - a past that includes her father, a high-ranking police official under the apartheid regime, and the children left behind in that long ago concentration camp.
Michelle Pretorius's epic debut weaves present and past together into a hugely suspenseful, masterfully plotted thriller that calls to mind Lauren Beukes's The Shining Girls and Tana French's The Secret Place. With an explosive conclusion, it marks the emergence of a thrilling new writer.
"A work of powerful imagination and profound insight."
- The Sunday Times South Africa
"Michelle Pretorius is a funny, surprising and fearless writer. The Monster's Daughter is at once a historical thriller that reckons seriously with South African politics, an imaginative piece of speculative fiction, and a stereotype-busting roller-coaster ride of a novel. I loved it."
—Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife
"Pretorius is a writer of great promise, and her descriptions of the Boer War, in particular, are spellbinding."
- The Times, UK
"Pretorius has written an impressive and well- executed debut novel, toeing the line between mystery, suspense, and sf. Readers who enjoy such international crime fiction authors as Stieg Larsson or Louise Penny will find this title a chilling read."
- Library Journal
