Little Monsters

"A juicy portrait of a wealthy family on the brink of disaster. . . Little Monsters simmers with tension as secrets explode out into the open. . . Tensely constructed and absorbing. . . A consummate summer read, which somehow evokes smooth beach glass and hot pink sunsets with nary a mention of either." --The Washington Post

"[An] engaging and neatly plotted novel. . . Little Monsters is so alluring, with its sense of looming familial implosion within a cultural implosion. . . Brodeur is very deliberately examining a small family horror story within a larger political context." --The New York Times

"This smart, page-flipping novel has more secrets than you could successfully hide from your Sunday school teacher. . . [with] shades of Succession. . . Little Monsters offers the pleasures of a smart, absorbing debut novel." --The Boston Globe

"Adrienne Brodeur knows her way around a family drama. . . Brodeur weaves a story dense with stinging secrets and simmering resentments, rooted in another context that she knows well: the manicured towns and wild fringes of Cape Cod. . . Set against the island's rippling dune grasses and scrub pines, [the] narrative is as elegantly rendered as it is compulsively readable." --Vogue

"Adrienne Brodeur weaves a long braid of a tale. . . This family drama is set in a highly sensory way on the shores of Cape Cod, so much so you'll feel like your feet are digging into wet summer sand." --Good Morning America

"Compelling." --NPR's All Things Considered

"The book is brilliantly written. . . Each character's voice is vivid and strong, flawed, funny. My favorite theme is the family skeleton, we've all got them--unless you're from a functioning family, which in that case, congratulations. Any dysfunctional family knows about the family skeleton you grew up with and you pretended wasn't there, and you ignored, and at some time it bubbles to the surface. That's what happens in this book, it's brilliant and I hope you check it out!" --Jennette McCurdy, #1 New York Times bestselling author of I'm Glad My Mom Died

"Treat yourself to this novel's gorgeous writing and irresistible storyline." --Real Simple

"Written with a palpable love for this family and their Cape Cod home, Little Monsters tackles family trauma, forgiveness, and toxic masculinity." --Arianna Rebolini, Bustle

"Shimmering. . . With this intricate story, Brodeur distinguishes herself as a novelist of the first rank." --Publishers Weekly, *Starred Review*

"Told in exquisite prose, this family drama shines a light on family, friendship, art, science, love, and loss." --Zibby Owens for Katie Couric Media

"[Adrienne Brodeur] is a deft and captivating storyteller." --Maggie Shipstead, Condé Nast Traveler

"Nobody describes the natural beauty of Cape Cod or the lovely, messy bonds of family better than Adrienne Brodeur. Little Monsters is an absolutely captivating read." --Elin Hilderbrand, New York Times bestselling author of The Hotel Nantucket

"Gorgeously told, with psychological nuance to spare, Adrienne Brodeur's latest fiction returns us to a world she knows by heart, wind-blown, wave-swept Cape Cod and the fraught, labyrinthine territory beneath the surface of family. This is the work of a seasoned and wonderfully wise storyteller. Brodeur is as masterfully attuned to the complex DNA of kindred secrets and high-risk loyalties as she is empathetic to the specifically tangled lives of the Gardner clan. We ultimately want for them what we want for ourselves, the freedom that comes with hard-won healing and truth telling, and the intimacy that waits if we're brave enough to look back down the loaded barrel of love." --Paula McLain, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife

"Little Monsters is an elegant and ambitious novel, a family saga deeply rooted in the landscape of Cape Cod. Adrienne Brodeur writes about complicated, sometimes difficult people and the natural world they inhabit with lyrical precision and deep emotional intelligence." --Tom Perrotta, New York Times bestselling author of Tracy Flick Can't Win and Mrs. Fletcher

"Beautiful, lyrical and unvarnished, Adrienne Brodeur's Little Monsters delivers its powerful emotional punches so subtly that they sneak up on you and leave you floored." --Miranda Cowley Heller, New York Times bestselling author of The Paper Palace

"Who understands complicated family dynamics better than Adrienne Brodeur? Little Monsters is a gripping portrait of how we carry the past into the present, and how the boundaries of kinship blur and change over time." --Mary Beth Keane, New York Times bestselling author of Ask Again, Yes

"A mesmerizing, modern day saga. . . The author's knowledge of Cape Cod, its environmental laws, the indigenous intricacies of land and sea and all that lives above or below the ocean or flies overhead makes Little Monsters a visceral, multi-sensorial feast woven into the perfectly paced story as each chapter builds by connecting the dots and ends with the lure of a page-turning cliff-hanger. . . It is an extraordinary story, unique while it informs even as it entertains." --New York Journal of Books

"A compelling, earnest portrait of a family more fractured than its members realize... beautiful and heart-breaking." --Shelf Awareness

"Wrenching, psychologically complex, and emotionally satisfying, Little Monsters is an immersive pleasure. This sprawling, big-hearted family saga is about the lies we tell each other and ourselves that enable us to maintain alliances--and what happens when we start telling the truth." --Christina Baker Kline, New York Times bestselling author of The Orphan Train

"Adrienne Brodeur brings to life, with her unerringly sharp eye, another complicated family, populated by brilliant, damaged characters who alternately love and drive each other crazy. Brodeur conveys an understanding of Cape Cod beyond the life of casual summer vacationers--a mysterious and beautiful coastal world where nature, not summer rentals, dominates in all its wonder--and of the demanding, infuriating patriarch who presides over the landscape. With rare compassion, she shows how it is possible to love the same people who may have hurt us most--and to forgive them their trespasses." --Joyce Maynard, New York Times bestselling author

"In Little Monsters, Adrienne Brodeur plunges into a multi-charactered family novel that is richly satisfying, like the best of meals, taking the reader into the heart of what Freud called 'the family romance, ' with all its complexities, evasions, buried guilts, forbidden passions and sibling rivalry. As sharply observant about her characters as she is of the landscape and seascape of Cape Cod, where they live, her novel is that rarest of things: a truly great read." --Michael Korda, New York Times bestselling author

"I so admire the layered complexity of this beautiful novel about a flawed yet unforgettable family--the interlocking ironies and wounds and strivings for love and clarity and accomplishment and growth, all so deeply embedded in the lush natural world that is the Cape. Every character in this mesmerizing story is distinct and real, and I found myself rooting for them all." --Andre Dubus III, New York Times bestselling author of House of Sand and Fog

"Smart, funny and beautifully written. Brodeur is a brilliant dissector of family relationships, a lyricist of the natural world, and an astute observer of our inner turmoils." --Monica Ali, bestselling author of Love Marriage

"Engrossing. . . Brodeur writes knowingly and lyrically of both the coastal area and the casual privilege of its denizens. . . Prepare for an emotional gut punch." --Zoomer Magazine

"Brodeur offers a nuanced and thoughtful portrait of Cape Cod and its culture. . . Little Monsters is a perceptive novel about a complicated family that will both infuriate and fascinate readers." --BookReporter

"A sophisticated page-turner with both heart and brains." --Hannah Harlow, The Cricket

"The ultimate beach read and then some!" --The Colorado Sun