I read this after “The Shape of Water” came out thinking it was the source material for the movie (which I hadn’t yet seen). I found out later it wasn’t, although they are similar. “Mrs. Caliban” was weird and not my typical choice of reading material, but it flowed well and I was eager to find out what ultimately happened.

This is a strange – and strangely compelling – novella that had me hooked form the first page. An aquatic “monster” escapes from a laboratory where it has been experimented on after killing its “keepers”. It, or rather, he, is called Larry and he takes refuge in an ordinary American suburban house where an ordinary American suburban couple live. Curiously, Dorothy the wife is not at all scared by the “monster’s” sudden arrival in her kitchen. In fact she welcomes him with open arms. Very much a tale of “beauty and the beast” it’s also a tale of love and acceptance, of longing and sadness, and a social satire of considerable insight. Dorothy is a woman longing to escape from a harsh reality, but does Larry represent a fantasy or an alternative reality? Or is he simply real? The reader is left with many questions at the end of this apparently simple tale that is anything but simple. Perceptive and moving, it’s a real gem of a book and merits bringing before a wider audience again – it was originally published in 1982 but has lost none of its bite and relevance.