The Monstrous Child (19 page)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

You never know where you’re going to get a good idea. The first sentence of this novel came to me on the New York subway, and I instantly heard Hel’s cool, sarcastic, funny, adolescent voice. Once I realised that the Norse Goddess of the Dead was a child like her brothers, then I knew I had a story. I’ve never written in the first person before, and I loved it.

As always, I’d like to thank the teams at Faber and Profile, especially Andrew Franklin, Stephen Page, Leah Thaxton, Alice Swan, Hannah Love and Will Steele. (And my extraordinary illustrator, Olivia Lomenech Gill, who has exceeded my wildest dreams in the beauty and depth of her drawings.) Many armfuls of thanks to Steven Butler, my dear friend and on-call book doctor, who has yet to find a plot problem he can’t solve. My husband, Martin Stamp, is a thoughtful, forensic reader, who could give up the day job to become an editor, while
Dr Mary Clayton is always game to answer any questions, however absurd.

For myth enthusiasts, H. R. Ellis Davidson’s PhD thesis
The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature
(Greenwood Press) could have been written to order for this book; as always I find all her books incredibly illuminating and insightful. John Lindow’s
Norse Mythology: a guide to the gods, heroes, rituals and beliefs
(Oxford University Press) was an invaluable reference work. I’d also like to thank my stand-by Icelandic scholar Dr Emily Lethbridge for recommending Lotte Motz’s article ‘Giants in Folklore and Mythology’, which was a great help in untangling several traditions about giants and their tortured relations with the gods.

About the Author

Francesca Simon is universally known for the staggeringly popular
Horrid Henry
series. These books and CDs have sold over 20 million copies in the UK alone and are published in 27 countries.
Horrid Henry and the Abominable Snowman
won the Children’s Book of the the Year award in 2008. She has also published two middle-grade novels:
The Lost Gods
and
The Sleeping Army
. Francesca lives in London with her family. This is her first teen novel.

About the Illustrator

Olivia Lomenech Gill lives and works in Northumberland. Originally trained in theatre, Olivia has worked as a professional artist for over a decade. As a printmaker Olivia has won several awards and her work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy. She was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal for her work on
Where My Wellies Take Me
by Michael Morpurgo, which was her first book illustration project.

By the Same Author

The Lost Gods

The Sleeping Army

THE
H
ORRID
H
ENRY
S
ERIES

Higgledy Piggledy the Hen Who Loved to Dance

Helping Hercules

Papa Forgot

Do You Speak English, Moon?

Hugo and the Bullyfrogs

Three Cheers for Ostrich

What’s That Noise?

Don’t Wake the Baby

Spider School

The Topsy Turvies

The Haunted House of Buffin Street

Moo Baa Baa Quack

Don’t Cook Cinderella