Lemony Snicket meets Roald Dahl in this riotously funny, deliciously macabre, and highly illustrated tale of a hungry beast, a vain immortal man, and a not-so-charming little girl who doesn’t know she’s about to be eaten.
Beauty comes at a price. And no one knows that better than Ebenezer Tweezer, who has stayed beautiful for 511 years. How, you may wonder? Ebenezer simply has to feed the beast in the attic of his mansion. In return for meals of performing monkeys, statues of Winston Churchill, and the occasional cactus, Ebenezer gets potions that keep him young and beautiful, as well as other presents.
But the beast grows ever greedier with each meal, and one day he announces that he’d like to eat a nice, juicy child next. Ebenezer has never done anything quite this terrible to hold onto his wonderful life. Still, he finds the absolutely snottiest, naughtiest, and most frankly unpleasant child he can and prepares to feed her to the beast.
The child, Bethany, may just be more than Ebenezer bargained for. She’s certainly a really rather rude houseguest, but Ebenezer still finds himself wishing she didn’t have to be gobbled up after all. Could it be Bethany is less meal-worthy and more…friend-worthy?
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“I’m always on the lookout for something fresh and fun and was delighted to read Jack Meggitt-Phillips’ The Beast and the Bethany. With equal parts Roald Dahl, Lemony Snicket, and the Brothers Grimm, he’s served up a wickedly funny tale of a monster, his helper, and the beastly girl who’s more than a match for them both. I loved it and couldn’t put it down.”
— James Ponti, author of City Spies
“A droll tween take on The Picture of Dorian Gray… Meggitt-Phillips’ ability to make readers squeal with delight, squirm in discomfort, and squawk with laughter make classical comparisons inevitable.”
— Kirkus ReviewsBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Jack Meggitt-Phillips is an author, scriptwriter, and playwright whose work has been performed at The Roundhouse and featured on BBC Radio 4. He is scriptwriter and presenter of The History of Advertising podcast.
Barnaby Edwards is an actor perhaps best known for his role as a Dalek Operator in the new BBC Wales series. He has also worked as a director, writer, and actor for several Big Finish Productions audio dramas, and contributed to the reference book, Impossible Worlds, Impossible Things.