The first in the enormously inventive, endlessly entertaining, overwhelmingly original and astonishingly illustrated ‘Here be Monsters’ series set in the unbelievably weird world of Ratbridge. Eccentric and zany, fast-moving and funny with a Dickensian feel about it. Fans of A Series of Unfortunate Events will love it. This is the first of a trilogy. Man in the Iron Socks is the second and Cheese Galore is the third. The three of them were originally published in one volume entitled Here be Monsters.
Welcome to Ratbridge. But beware - for there is skulduggery afoot. Arthur has fallen foul of the appalling Snatcher and is trapped alone in the town, with no way home. Meanwhile Snatcher and his men are working tirelessly in secret on a fiendish and dastardly plan to take over Ratbridge - and the world. With the help of Willbury Nibble QC, some friendly boxtrolls and cabbage-heads, Marjorie the frustrated inventor, and the rats and pirates from the Ratbridge Nautical Laundry, can Arthur thwart Snatcher's evil plans - and find his way home?
Alan Snow is an award-winning children’s book illustrator and designer who has worked on more than 160 books. His novel, Here Be Monsters (OUP, 2005), was made into an animated film, The Boxtrolls, which spent several weeks at the top of the UK box office in 2015. Fascinated with ‘how things work’, Alan turned his attentions towards the kitchen, acquiring sophisticated equipment such as vacuum machine, centrifuge, freeze dryer and shock chiller, and has developed his own culinary ‘lab’. He has since consulted for The Ethicurian restaurant. Alan now runs workshops and courses for professional chefs and cooks. His gastronomic experiments are due to be filmed for a documentary. Alan has won numerous awards for his work as a children’s book illustrator as well as for design and computer animation.
