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Francesca Zappia
Francesca Zappia writes young adult fiction, often with a focus on mental health themes. Her book Made You Up explores the experiences of a teenager with schizophrenia. Zappia's stories are known for their unique perspectives.
Eliza and Her Monsters
Synopsis
In the real world, Eliza Mirk is quiet, awkward, and practically friendless. Online, she's LadyConstellation — the anonymous creator of Monstrous Sea, a webcomic with millions of fans. When Wallace Warland transfers to her school, Eliza finds herself drawn into a real-world friendship for the first time, even as she keeps her online identity hidden from him. But Wallace is carrying his own grief, and when Eliza's secret is accidentally exposed to the world, the two identities she's built — her art and her anonymity — begin to collide. Told with pages from Eliza's webcomic and screenshots from her online community, Eliza and Her Monsters is about fandom, creative ownership, and the difficulty of being seen.
Genres
Characters
Eliza MirkProtagonist
Wallace WarlandSupporting
Frequently asked questions
Are there other stories by the author related to the webcomic in this book?
The author has written and published separate, standalone projects that appear as in-universe works within the novel, specifically a series titled The Children of Hypnos which readers can find and read independently.
Does the book use any unique formatting to show the online world?
The narrative incorporates various multimedia elements, including chat transcripts, forum posts, and graphic panels from the webcomic, to represent the protagonist's digital life alongside the traditional prose.
Does Eliza and Her Monsters address mental health themes?
Yes — the book portrays social anxiety and panic attacks, and touches on grief and a parent's death by suicide in Wallace's backstory.