A dying writer was inspired to write a story about a boy with a dying mother. The writer passed away before she could finish it.

Siobhan Dowd's final work was completed by Patrick Ness and became A MONSTER CALLS, filmed in 2016 by J.A. Bayona.

The story is simple and merciless. Twelve-year-old Conor's mother is dying. Just after midnight, the giant yew tree outside his window comes alive, a monster voiced by Liam Neeson, and tells the boy it will return to tell him three stories. In return, it wants something. Not his courage, not his obedience. It wants the truth.

The truth is the thing Conor cannot say aloud, the thing slow loss does to the people who love the dying. Part of him wants it to be over. Part of him wants to let his mother go, and he cannot forgive himself for the wish. The monster is here to pull that confession out of him, because the only way through the grief is to speak the unspeakable.

"She had the characters, a premise, and a beginning. What she didn't have, unfortunately, was time."
—Patrick Ness, in the Author's Note to A Monster Calls

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A Monster Calls was produced as an international co-production between Spain and the United States. It was spearheaded by Spanish company Apaches Entertainment alongside Telecinco Cinema and Películas la Trini, and co-financed by American studios Participant Media and River Road Entertainment.

Universal Pictures handled its theatrical and home entertainment release in Spain, Focus Features managed its domestic distribution in North America, Entertainment One (eOne) took charge of the United Kingdom and Australia, and Lionsgate International oversaw sales for the rest of the world.