W

HEN she finished reading A Monster Calls, publisher and editor Denise Johnstone-Burt closed the manuscript and took out her phone. Determined not to be seen sobbing by her fellow commuters on the train, she tapped out a text to the author: “I’ve finished it. It’s astonishing. I’m crying — and I don’t do crying in public!”

Now, with the release of the film of his 2011 novel, Patrick Ness is about to make many more people sob. A Monster Calls tells the story of Conor (Lewis MacDougall), a bullied only child struggling to come to terms with the fact that his mother (Felicity Jones) is terminally ill. His stern grandmother (Sigourney Weaver) is unable to provide much comfort; nor is his father, who lives in the US.

Help, of a sort, comes from a surprising source: a monster (Liam Neeson) in the form of an ancient yew tree. This venerable earth spirit tells Conor didactic but disturbing fairy stories in which good does not necessarily prevail and “happily ever after” isn’t always the case.

The book addresses not just bereavement but also the awful fear of loss and the troubling issue of wanting a dying loved one’s suffering — and therefore your own — to be over. It suggests that being able to accept that such feelings are normal is the way towards healing.

Both the novel and the film — which features an extraordinary performance from MacDougall, who lost his own mother a year before filming — are deeply affecting, but the true story behind them is no less moving. Monster Calls