Crys Wiltshire

A Monster Story, Poetry Collection on Childhood Trauma

A Monster Story

Available now in paperback, ebook, & Kindle Unlimited.

GET YOUR COPY

Why are there no fairytales about evil stepfathers?

A Monster Story is a debut confessional poetry collection structured as a dark fairy tale arc — seven sections that follow one woman’s journey from the silence of a childhood spent surviving an abusive stepfather, through fury, grief, and dissociation, to facing what happened, and ultimately, to the slaying. These poems move through trauma and healing with raw honesty.

“Some girls become women all at once. Some of us become hiding places.”

“Trauma is rude like that. It leaves the house spotless — lets everyone eat dinner, ask how school was.”

“He tried to break me. I cracked. But I did not shatter.”

“You are not what happened. You are what happened, after.”

This collection is for anyone who grew up in a house where the danger had a normal face. For anyone who has spent years trying to explain something that left no visible marks. For the ones who stayed silent until they couldn’t anymore. For the ones who are still becoming their own slayers.

What you will find inside are poems written across nearly three decades, some tracing back to diary entries from childhood, reshaped with the clarity that only time and healing can give. This is not a redemption arc. This is a reckoning.

Content warning: This collection contains poetry addressing childhood abuse, grooming, sexual abuse, depression, dissociation, and suicidal ideation. A crisis resources page, including the Kids Help Phone line, appears at the back of the book.

A Monster Story — debut collection. Crys Wiltshire. Canada, 2026.

  • Author:
  • Category:
  • ISBN (paperback):
  • ISBN (eBook):
  • Publisher:
  • Crys Wiltshire
  • Poetry
  • 978-1-0678706-0-7
  • 978-1-0678706-1-4
  • Cricket Hollow Press
BUY A MONSTER STORY

The Monster's Story Here, But There is More to Come!

Sign up to get updates on new work, contests, potential workshops, events, and more.

Subscribe

Reader Reviews

"This book lays bare how young girls are taught to ignore their inner voice and that true strength can be knowing that we can feel weak and scared, and still keep going. Heart-breaking and heart-warming, this book will take you on an emotional journey from the unsettling silence in the hallway, to the temporary refuge of the concrete basement. This book reminds us to listen to our inner voice, to teach the young girls in our lives to listen to their inner voice, and it reminds us that we're all tenacious bitches. Now, let's go slay some monsters."
Tara A. LakeAuthor of sundown thoughts
Tara A Lake, Canadian Poet & Authro
“This poetry collection is an unflinching exploration of childhood abuse, trauma, memory, and the difficult work of survival. The poem What the Body Recalls, beautifully expresses how trauma can exist long after the events themselves have passed. Overall, this collection is both heartbreaking and hopeful and offers an important perspective on the lasting effects of childhood abuse while honoring the courage it takes to survive.”
Nicole DalcourtAuthor of What Remains
Nicole Dalcourt, Author of What Remains, a poetry collection
“A raw, honest and empowering collection about survival. This collection explores childhood abuse and trauma with profound insight, keen metaphor and brave sentiment. So many of these poems felt so relatable to me, what a privilege to have my child self be seen in this way. This book is a love letter to every girl who has walked through fire, and survived.”
Alex DawsonPoet & Wildlife Photographer
Alex Dawson, poet
"There is a particular skill required to write about the worst thing that ever happened to you and still produce something that feels like art rather than testimony. A Monster Story pulls it off by braiding fairy tale and poetry so closely that you stop being able to tell where the myth ends and the record begins. These poems are heavy and deeply brave, but they are also acts of reclamation. This is what happens when a girl taught to read a room for danger turns that same unbearable attention toward the page and finds, instead of a threat, a self. I finished it and thought: this is what it means to make a monster small enough to carry, so you can finally set it down."
Allison BothleyWriter and Founding Editor of BANGS Zine
Allison Bothley Writer and Founding Editor of BANGS Zine