Maggie knows the story of Frankenstein off by heart, and now entertains the poverty stricken dock children, match sellers and strays with it. How does she know this story so well? Her father has been obsessed by Victor Frankenstein’s monster much of Maggie’s life. So much so in fact, he has followed it to the ends of the Earth, spending every last penny and sending their family into poverty themselves.

Maggie believes her father loves the monster more than he loves her, his hunger to find it consuming anything he may have left. When a rich gentleman appears with an offer to fund another expedition to the Arctic where the monster was last seen, Maggie’s father leaps at the chance, despite not have fully recovered from the last failed one.

Despite being boarded with strangers in turn for work while her father is on another hunt,  Maggie is determined to go with him on his lengthy voyage. She’s not going to let him out of her sight for another 3 years!

What they find is unexpected, and for Maggie most of all. The Monster is nowhere to be seen, but the locals know where his son is…

Maggie’s father’s obsession does not wane, but the danger cranks up further and further as they continue his quest. Maggie wants her father back, and the monster boy feels the same about his own. But there is another man simmering with an evil revenge. Will the Frankenstein name ever bring peace?

I’ve been a fan of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, for most of my life, and enjoy any spin offs from it, including this one for 9-14 yr olds. The main building blocks of the original story are still there but Frankenstein has gone on to have a son with an English woman. This boy is huge just like his father and immediately misunderstood because of it.

The author wanted to look further into the Frankenstein story, seeing him as different, misunderstood, with much prejudice and malice within it. Circus performers seen and marketed as freaks for everyone’s mirth and exploitation are also involved in Following Frankenstein, as are other characters, seen as not ‘normal’ according to the times.

This story allows at least one of these characters to finally live their lives without scrutiny, judgement, control or misunderstanding, letting them be themselves – as we all should be allowed to be.

Author – Catherine Bruton

Age – 9+

Take a look inside here

Listen to the 1st Chapter here

(2021, Nosy Crow, Allen & Unwin, Ocean Voyage, Obsession, Classic rewrite, Sea, Ship, Mouse, Action, Adventure, Animals, Bullies, Conflict, Family, Fantasy, Friendship, Greed, Historical, Poverty, Prejudice, Revenge, Circus, Freak Show, Control, Slavery)