The Monstrous Child
Publisher: Faber & Faber / Profile Books
Hel is just like any other teenage girl - she's stroppy and fights with her brothers Fenrir and Jormungand. But Hel is also a goddess - daughter of the Norse trickster god Loki and giantess Angrboda - and a monster: a healthy girl from the waist up, a rotting body from the waist down.
Life's hard in Jotunheim, where she grows up, but when she and her family move to Asgard, the beautiful home of the gods, things get a lot worse - especially when Hel falls in love with the beautiful Baldr, the only one that's nice to her at all.
Thrown out (literally) of Asgard, she's sent to be ruler of Niflheim, the underworld. Queen of the Dead isn't exactly what Hel always dreamed of, but she has to find the strength to face her destiny.
A good story with black humour and mythological detail, this will appeal to tweens and young teens looking for a strong heroine to root for.
