A Monster Calls

In a present-day English town, thirteen-year-old Conor O’Malley is having a recurring nightmare. When he wakes from this terrible dream, he is visited by a monster, which takes the shape of the yew tree next to the church behind Conor’s house. Conor, to the monster’s surprise, is not afraid of the monster. The monster says it is going to tell Conor three stories, after which Conor must tell a fourth story: what happens in his recurring nightmare. Conor is terrified by this prospect.

That morning, Conor completes his daily routine. His mother is sick with cancer, and so he is often left to his own devices to make breakfast, brush his teeth, get dressed, pack his bag, and get himself to school. His mother is upset that he has to do these things for himself because she is so tired, and so she has invited his grandmother to visit and help take care of him, and to take care of her. Conor protests because he doesn’t like his grandmother and thinks that they’ll be fine without her, but his mother insists.