Cassie McCullough

But what did you make of the alliteration?

Because obviously this was very much part of the style.

Maybe you could explain exactly how that alliteration works with the two halves separated by, is it a...

Cesura.

Cesura, yeah.

Cesura, yep.

Because, you know, Kate, you said you imagine it being yelled out across a bar.

And for me, that's probably where I would have enjoyed this text a heck of a lot more.

Because on the page, I found that actually became very tedious very quickly.

And maybe, you know, maybe there's a few examples I could pull out of just this constant like kind of cryptic crossword getaways that she's managed to do to keep within this very strict format of the alliterative format.

Can you describe for people how that works?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, look, I could see its delight.

And if you really reveled in it, it would be wonderful.

But I just, yeah.

But let me just give an example.

Here's just one.

Bro, I've heard when dawn broke, soldiers stampeded into the ring hall, chieftains coming to contemplate the cooling corpse portion.

Warriors and wild men from all over the realm, wide-eyed with wonder, overwhelmed at the sight of Grendel's tracks in the dirt.

No sorrow there for those who'd suffered him, but satisfaction at the marks of misery.