''Mel Foster and the Demon Butler'' is a 2015 gothic children's novel by

Julia Golding Julia Golding (born 1969), pen names Joss Stirling and Eve Edwards, is a British novelist best known for her ''Cat Royal'' series and '' The Companions Quartet''. Biography Born in London, 1969, she grew up on the edge of Epping Forest. She orig ...

. Golding also writes under the pen names of Joss Stirling and Eve Edwards. Mel Foster and the Demon Butler has been published by

Egmont Publishing The Egmont Group (formerly The Gutenberghus Group) is a Danish media corporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark. The business area of Egmont has traditionally been magazine publishing but has over the years evolved to comprise mass me ...

in August 2015. The publishing deal wa
announced in January 2015
The novel is the first book in an adventure series. The next book, ''Mel Foster and the Time Machine'', was published in April 2016.

Plot

Mel Foster is an orphan, growing up in

Victorian England In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

, when he is sent away from the orphanage to work on a ship called ''The Albatross''. When ''The Albatross'' gets stuck in ice, Mel accidentally discovers the body of a giantess frozen within the ice. Mr Wallace, a scientist travelling on the ship, convinces Captain Mariner to bring the "monster" back to England, to show

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

, who will surely pay handsomely to see the monster. Mel, left to look after the frozen specimen accidentally revives the giantess back to life. However, Eve Frankenstein is not actually a monster. Luckily, she does not want to eat Mel―she wants to protect him. While Eve and Mel become firm friends in the Arctic, back in England there is definitely something fishy going on in Buckingham Palace. The Queen's creepy butler has a peculiar influence over his monarch. It turns out that this butler is hatching a plan that could destroy the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

. It is up to Mel, Evie and an assorted bunch of monsters to save the Empire!

The Setting

''Mel Foster and the Demon Butler'' starts off in the Arctic during Queen Victoria's reign. Most of the novel is set in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

The characters

Main characters

* Mel Foster: Mel is the main character in the book. He is an orphan with a mystery surrounding his parentage. * Eve Frankestein: Eve is the daughter of

Frankenstein's Monster Frankenstein's monster or Frankenstein's creature, often referred to as simply "Frankenstein", is a fictional character who first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''. Shelley's title thus compares ...

Secondary characters

* Doctor Foster: The man who delivered Mel Foster to the orphanage after he was born * Viorica: Viorica is Lady Viorica Dracula, Count Dracula's little sister and part of the Monster Resistance * Abel and Cain Jekyll: The twin sons of Dr Jekyll (or should that be Hyde?), they are the leaders of the Monster Resistance

Publishing Details

* Author:

* First published: August 2015 * * Publisher:

* Age range: 9+ years * Genre: Children's Fantasy Adventure Series

References

External links

{{Portal , Children's literature
''Mel Foster and the Demon Butler'' at AmazonThe Mel Foster series at the author's website"Egmont acquires Julia Golding title", ''The Bookseller'', January 9, 2015"Something monstrous this way comes!" at ''Girls Heart Books'' website
2015 British novels British children's novels Children's historical novels British Gothic novels Novels about orphans Novels set in London Novels by Julia Golding 2015 children's books Egmont Books books