"Funny, tender storytelling from a truly skilful author"
July 2023 Book of the Month
Benji McLaughlin is a self-confessed visionary and resolutely hopeful, no matter the circumstances, and his are very tough. His parents are missing after an accident at sea in which his big brother Stanley also nearly died, and the two of them have been moved to live with Uncle Hamish in the remote Loch Lochy in Scotland.
Benji is as certain that his parents will be found safe as he is that there’s a monster in the Loch. All he has to do while waiting for his parents to come back, is find the monster. Then the tourists will come flocking, thereby saving Uncle Hamish’s holiday business from bankruptcy. As the story unfolds, Benji learns that monsters are real, though not in the way that the Loch Lochy monster might be real. His other big lesson is that hope can shift, and it’s such shifts that allow you to carry on living.
Jenny Pearson explores grief and bereavement in a book that is frequently laugh-out-loud funny and is not afraid to include the occasional miraculous bit of good luck. It’s a rare skill to be able to mix humour with such profound themes, and one that makes her books rich and rewarding reading. Few authors create such warm and original characters either and this is every bit as entertaining and warm-hearted as the award-winning The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates.
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