National bestseller 'Little Monsters,' set on Cape Cod, out in paperback May 7

Almost a year after its initial release and after receiving reviews from The New York Times, Boston Globe and The Washington Post — to name a few — Adrienne Brodeur’s "Little Monsters,” set on Cape Cod, returns to shelves in a new edition: as a paperback and with a new jacket.

The Gardner family may be fictional but, like any family, it certainly has its fair share of secrets, conflicts and disagreements. After losing their mother at a young age and being raised by their father Adam, an esteemed oceanographer who struggles with bipolar disorder, Ken and Abby grew up relying on each other — something that hasn’t changed as the years have gone by.

Now, as their father’s 70th birthday approaches, the Gardner family prepares to dish out more than just cake, each gearing up to reveal secrets of their own and figure out how an unexpected guest earned an invite to the party.

'Little Monsters' comes out as paperback on May 7

Set on the Cape in 2016 (before the now infamous election) "Little Monsters" examines the relationship between members of a complicated family and how each of their hidden wounds impacts how they interact with loved ones.

Brodeur said she began working on the now national bestseller in 2020, spending a lot of time formulating the plot, characters and story during her walks on the beach. In particular, she noted being drawn to sibling dynamics, the social climate of 2016 and her "background question.”

“As I write, I tend to have a sort of a background question that informs the book without it being about that subject,” she explained. “I was thinking a lot about why women have a harder time finding their voice and holding on to power than men do.”

Excited about writing about a fictional family after penning her memoir "Wild Game," a look at her recollection of conspiring with her mother to hide her affair, Brodeur created the Gardner family: Adam, Ken and Abby.

We meet Adam, the head of the house, as he’s staring aging head-on. Eager to make one last breakthrough by his birthday, Adam stops taking his bipolar medication, unbeknownst to his children. His secret is one of the many uncovered throughout the celebration.

“I wanted to shine the spotlight on a real family so that we could see the deeper truth inside each of them and do it compassionately because some of the characters are really wounded,” she said.

With a house in Orleans and family scattered around the Cape, it was no surprise that the Gardners became one of the many famous fictional families of the Cape.

“I was particularly interested in each character coming from a different town because Cape Cod is not just one place,” she said. “Ptown is as different from Chatham or Mashpee, as Las Vegas is from Boston or Savannah. Every town feels so unique.”

In the year since the hardcover’s release, Brodeur said she’s received a lot of feedback, especially for her depiction of someone with bipolar disorder, and has had fruitful conversations with readers, ones she’s eagerly awaiting to restart on her paperback book tour.

“One of the unexpected joys of writing is you spend so much time alone in a room talking to yourself feeling a little crazy so when you go out into the world with a book and have these conversations with people, it really is quite amazing,” she said.

Brodeur returns to the Cape with a pre-release signing at the Brewster Book Store (2648 Main St.) on May 4. When asked about what she’s looking forward to about the Cape release, she said she’s excited to see friends, fellow authors and a bookstore she loves.

“It's the Brewster Book Store, it's a place I've been buying books forever,” she said. “It's always delightful.”

East End Books also hosts Brodeur for a conversation with Cynthia Newberry Martin on Aug. 1 and she will be at the Nantucket Book Festival on Aug. 13. For more information about these events and about Brodeur, visit www.adriennebrodeur.com/.

The paperback edition of “Little Monsters” comes out on May 7 and costs $18.99. To pre-order a copy, visit www.simonandschuster.com/.

Frankie Rowley covers entertainment and things to do. Contact her at frowley@capecodonline.com.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape Cod featured in Adrienne Brodeur's bestseller 'Little Monsters'