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Unforgotten Monsters
Clara would like to be invisible. She likes to fold herself into small spaces and hide. If she cannot hide, then she will run.
When she finds herself stranded on the moors in a storm, she takes shelter in the nearest village. But, as she begins to explore, her geography seems to shift and change. There doesn’t seem to be a road that leads out. And she can’t remember why she’s there. Was the storm outside, or in her head? What did she run from? And where or what is the village?
If Clara can answer that, there is a chance that she may not be so keen to leave.
And can she?
When she finds herself stranded on the moors in a storm, she takes shelter in the nearest village. But, as she begins to explore, her geography seems to shift and change. There doesn’t seem to be a road that leads out. And she can’t remember why she’s there. Was the storm outside, or in her head? What did she run from? And where or what is the village?
If Clara can answer that, there is a chance that she may not be so keen to leave.
And can she?
531 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 16, 2025
1 person is currently reading
4 people want to read
About the author
Katie Hall-May
3 books342 followersI started writing as soon as I realised I could translate all the mad things that happened in my head into words, write them down and suddenly turn my ‘head in the clouds’ nature into something people admired as opposed to told me off for. I am a junkie for praise so that was an obvious win. I was also, let’s be honest, one of those kids that just always seems to be getting it wrong. If there was a way to get underfoot, I’d be under it, if there was a wrong thing to say or wear, I’d have said or worn it, if there was a wrong thing to be good at, I’d be good at it, if there was a right thing to be good at, I’d be phenomenally bad at it. I did OK at my school-work but that aside, I wasn’t sure there was a place on earth where I wouldn’t be always screwing up.
I am of course now incredibly cool and popular and not a shadow of that remains… 🤥 Maybe.
Certainly I’m happier and a lot less lonely.
But, at the time, the only place I really felt I excelled, was inside the stories in my head. It wasn’t always pleasant in there, there were threats and demons and darkness, and good did not always win overall, but whatever the landscape one thing was constant – I was always absolutely brilliant! I was dignified and strong, brave and charismatic and I always ALWAYS got it right.
I don’t feel the need to escape any more. In fact, as an adult, I have been lucky enough to be able to surround myself with people and places where I do well, just for being who I am. But I’m still telling stories. My head remains firmly in the clouds and the clouds remain populated with both angels and ghouls.
Humans have always learned through stories. It is how we form our identity. We become the people we tell ourselves we are, which is our blessing, and also our curse. I like to tell stories that centre on people, in all their terrible beauty, and I feel the same joy in it whether I’m writing characters I want to escape to, or characters it would be wiser to escape from. And aren’t we all a bit of both, if we’re honest?
I’m writing for the love of it now, and not for company. And I’m writing, a little, for that lonely me, who never got it right, and for all those out there, whoever they are, who can’t help feeling like they always get it wrong.
You don’t. You never did. You will find your place. And it won’t have to be imaginary.
With best wishes, whatever you are working on or though,
Katie
Book details and links:
My newest book, to be found at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unforgotten-... ‘Unforgotten Monsters, explores the murkiness of memory. A woman finds herself in a mysterious village. But she’s not sure how she got there or what she was running from. If she can discover that, or what the village is, she might not be so keen to leave. And can she?
‘Puck’s Legacy’ (https://amzn.eu/d/frvJUDU) is about what happens when you escape from reality into fiction, and whether it's possible to return. It's also about drama, love and extremism, but mostly it's about obsession. It was a beast to write, and a brutal little beast at that, but I'm in love with everybody in it.
My other book, 'Memories of a Lost Thesaurus' (https://amzn.eu/d/aagnxk5) revolves around a four people and a flooded block of flats. Everyone has something to fix - but the flood is the least of it. It's about bullying, and blame, and being trapped.
I have several other novels on the go - (I'm capricious, what can I say?). ‘To be Frank' has been drafted and is ‘resting’ in my drawer because I know very well it is going to be an evil little beast to edit. ‘Of Butterflies and Brushes' is the next one to come out, and is currently being ruthlessly edited. Watch this space...
I am of course now incredibly cool and popular and not a shadow of that remains… 🤥 Maybe.
Certainly I’m happier and a lot less lonely.
But, at the time, the only place I really felt I excelled, was inside the stories in my head. It wasn’t always pleasant in there, there were threats and demons and darkness, and good did not always win overall, but whatever the landscape one thing was constant – I was always absolutely brilliant! I was dignified and strong, brave and charismatic and I always ALWAYS got it right.
I don’t feel the need to escape any more. In fact, as an adult, I have been lucky enough to be able to surround myself with people and places where I do well, just for being who I am. But I’m still telling stories. My head remains firmly in the clouds and the clouds remain populated with both angels and ghouls.
Humans have always learned through stories. It is how we form our identity. We become the people we tell ourselves we are, which is our blessing, and also our curse. I like to tell stories that centre on people, in all their terrible beauty, and I feel the same joy in it whether I’m writing characters I want to escape to, or characters it would be wiser to escape from. And aren’t we all a bit of both, if we’re honest?
I’m writing for the love of it now, and not for company. And I’m writing, a little, for that lonely me, who never got it right, and for all those out there, whoever they are, who can’t help feeling like they always get it wrong.
You don’t. You never did. You will find your place. And it won’t have to be imaginary.
With best wishes, whatever you are working on or though,
Katie
Book details and links:
My newest book, to be found at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unforgotten-... ‘Unforgotten Monsters, explores the murkiness of memory. A woman finds herself in a mysterious village. But she’s not sure how she got there or what she was running from. If she can discover that, or what the village is, she might not be so keen to leave. And can she?
‘Puck’s Legacy’ (https://amzn.eu/d/frvJUDU) is about what happens when you escape from reality into fiction, and whether it's possible to return. It's also about drama, love and extremism, but mostly it's about obsession. It was a beast to write, and a brutal little beast at that, but I'm in love with everybody in it.
My other book, 'Memories of a Lost Thesaurus' (https://amzn.eu/d/aagnxk5) revolves around a four people and a flooded block of flats. Everyone has something to fix - but the flood is the least of it. It's about bullying, and blame, and being trapped.
I have several other novels on the go - (I'm capricious, what can I say?). ‘To be Frank' has been drafted and is ‘resting’ in my drawer because I know very well it is going to be an evil little beast to edit. ‘Of Butterflies and Brushes' is the next one to come out, and is currently being ruthlessly edited. Watch this space...
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 10, 2026
At this point, I have accepted that when I read a Katie Hall-May novel, I will have no idea where it is going to take me. None at all. Just get in the car, put on the blindfold and let it careen you somewhere. You won’t know where you go until you get there, but the ride will be exhilarating!
A common thread I do notice (this is my third novel by her now), is how effortlessly meta her writing is. The idea of a role (as in a “performer”) and role (as in “mother/girlfriend/friend”) weaves curiously in and out and is never done the same way--or even, is done very very differently each time.
Clara lives a small and dull life as a near-shut in and seems to be just on the brink of an emotional breakdown. Something ominous looms in her grody flat that we don’t know of, but the story begins with her eviction, and as she wanders around in a fog of confusion and loss trying to get to her next temporary residence, a storm winds up and disorients her entirely. Clara finds shelter in a little town, but quickly, it becomes apparent that something Stepfordian is going on here. She meets three young people: bursting-with-life Joby; delicate, sensitive Libby; and caustic, skeptical Mia, who take pity on this lost woman and become invested in helping her find her way home. That’s when they realize… funny… they can’t seem to leave the town either.
…Has it always been this way?
==
Despite the frequent dialogue/interaction between the main characters, I got a strong silent-film feverish “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” feel from the setting of the town and their interactions. Quaint and strangely ominous and hectic spaces Hall-May describes so vividly, you can see every detail. The town contracts like a Twilight Zone diorama, filled with strange little painted streets and optical illusions, throwing off the characters, but the reader as well. [Even more fitting, because at the end, the author describes the making of the cover as having been modeled first as a diorama.]
Hall-May portrays the claustrophobia of certain emotions wonderfully and builds an entire world out of their bricks; a complex stage set. As the readers, we’re watching, but I think most will find some overlap in their own life and interactions, which makes the story more personal than I at least expected! A Matroschka doll-like experience.
POVs shift around, but we mainly follow Clara. She has a silent-actress-ish pathos—all her emotions are overflowing, overwhelming. The author has a tenderness for her broken characters, even as (I believe) there may be a certain message to be gleaned from their behaviors. As I personally move through a point in my life where I am forced to examine the past, choices and relationships, what others did, and what I did (especially as pertains to being an adult with a nearing-adulthood kid AND an aging parent), this novel lands some hard solar plexus punches. Parts were extremely difficult to read. I mentioned Caligari, but to me, there was also a touch of LANARK in this book. Like Gray, Hall-May brings a complex (and very surreal) examination of middle-age and aging, and the bitter coins of regret and mementos we may find ourselves turning around and around.
I’ve enjoyed all the novels of this author so far and believe they each, in their own way, managed to pull off some fancy psychological footwork. She certainly has a knack for trapping the incredible tension and exposing the squirming maggots under the dollhouse floorboards of our mundane daily relationships, but MONSTERS may be my favorite yet.
A common thread I do notice (this is my third novel by her now), is how effortlessly meta her writing is. The idea of a role (as in a “performer”) and role (as in “mother/girlfriend/friend”) weaves curiously in and out and is never done the same way--or even, is done very very differently each time.
Clara lives a small and dull life as a near-shut in and seems to be just on the brink of an emotional breakdown. Something ominous looms in her grody flat that we don’t know of, but the story begins with her eviction, and as she wanders around in a fog of confusion and loss trying to get to her next temporary residence, a storm winds up and disorients her entirely. Clara finds shelter in a little town, but quickly, it becomes apparent that something Stepfordian is going on here. She meets three young people: bursting-with-life Joby; delicate, sensitive Libby; and caustic, skeptical Mia, who take pity on this lost woman and become invested in helping her find her way home. That’s when they realize… funny… they can’t seem to leave the town either.
…Has it always been this way?
==
Despite the frequent dialogue/interaction between the main characters, I got a strong silent-film feverish “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” feel from the setting of the town and their interactions. Quaint and strangely ominous and hectic spaces Hall-May describes so vividly, you can see every detail. The town contracts like a Twilight Zone diorama, filled with strange little painted streets and optical illusions, throwing off the characters, but the reader as well. [Even more fitting, because at the end, the author describes the making of the cover as having been modeled first as a diorama.]
Hall-May portrays the claustrophobia of certain emotions wonderfully and builds an entire world out of their bricks; a complex stage set. As the readers, we’re watching, but I think most will find some overlap in their own life and interactions, which makes the story more personal than I at least expected! A Matroschka doll-like experience.
POVs shift around, but we mainly follow Clara. She has a silent-actress-ish pathos—all her emotions are overflowing, overwhelming. The author has a tenderness for her broken characters, even as (I believe) there may be a certain message to be gleaned from their behaviors. As I personally move through a point in my life where I am forced to examine the past, choices and relationships, what others did, and what I did (especially as pertains to being an adult with a nearing-adulthood kid AND an aging parent), this novel lands some hard solar plexus punches. Parts were extremely difficult to read. I mentioned Caligari, but to me, there was also a touch of LANARK in this book. Like Gray, Hall-May brings a complex (and very surreal) examination of middle-age and aging, and the bitter coins of regret and mementos we may find ourselves turning around and around.
I’ve enjoyed all the novels of this author so far and believe they each, in their own way, managed to pull off some fancy psychological footwork. She certainly has a knack for trapping the incredible tension and exposing the squirming maggots under the dollhouse floorboards of our mundane daily relationships, but MONSTERS may be my favorite yet.
Displaying 1 of 1 review