Author:Stanley Donwood
'Bad Island is an extraordinary, unsettling document: a silent species-history in eighty frames, a mute future archive. I can imagine it discovered in the remnants of a civilisation; a set of runes found amid the ruins. Stark in its lines and dark in its vision, Bad Island reads you more than you read it' Robert Macfarlane
'I've read lots of Stanley's stuff and it's always good and I am in no way biased' Thom Yorke, lead singer of Radiohead
From cult graphic designer and long-time Radiohead collaborator Stanley Donwood comes a starkly beautiful graphic novel about the end of the world.
A wild seascape, a distant island, a full moon. Gradually the island grows nearer until we land on a primeval wilderness, rich in vegetation and huge, strange beasts. Time passes and things do not go well for the island. Civilization rises as towers of stone and metal and smoke, choking the undergrowth and the creatures who once moved through it. This is not a happy story and it will not have a happy ending.
Working in his distinctive, monochromatic lino-cut style, Stanley Donwood carves out a mesmerizing, stark parable on environmentalism and the history of humankind.
Bad Island is an extraordinary, unsettling document: a silent species-history in eighty frames, a mute future archive. I can imagine it discovered in the remnants of a civilisation; a set of runes found amid the ruins. Stark in its lines and dark in its vision, Bad Island reads you more than you read it.
—— Robert MacfarlaneStrangely compelling... gorgeous.
—— Teddy Jamieson , Herald Scotland, **Books of the Year**In its ambition, framing, and multiple layers, [Passing for Human] raises the bar for graphic narrative. Even fans of [Liana Finck’s] work in the New Yorker will be blindsided by this outstanding book.
—— Kirkus ReviewA beautiful, fictionalised memoir combines intelligence and appealingly scratchy artwork with serious soul-searching.
—— Guardian, 50 of the Biggest Books to Look Out For in Autumn 2018A sure hit for readers of graphic memoirs.
—— BooklistPassing for Human is a bildungsroman of sorts, laying out all the decisive moments that have made Finck who she is now… simultaneously odd and precise.
—— Sian Cain , GuardianIn this elegant graphic memoir of being the odd woman out... Finck’s whimsy acts as a microscope to better understand family, romance, and isolation... Becoming human is a lifelong task—but Finck illustrates it with humor and panache.
—— Publishers Weekly[A] compelling memoir…Passing for Human, proves creativity and mental health through a mix of frank self-analysis and rich, fable-like storytelling. It’s a fine account of how the mind can soar even as doubt roars in the ears.
—— James Smart , Guardian, **Books of the Year**An ingenious intertwining of real life and make believe, Glass Town explores the Brontës’ creative impulse and its effect on their lives. It is the perfect combination of clever, crazy, and just a tiny bit creepy, and will appeal to anyone who has wondered about how imagination shapes us, as well as to card-carrying Brontë fans.
—— Tracy ChevalierThe Brontës' early stories of fantastical worlds...have been inventively brought to life in this beautiful new graphic novel. There's a poignant edge to the escapism.
—— Tristram Fane Saunders , TelegraphMagical. Isabel Greenberg's drawings are delightful and her imaginative response to the young Brontës' fantasy lives is touching, funny and perceptive.
—— Lucasta Miller , author of The Bronte MythA totally immersive read into the world of the famous Brontë juvenilia, both of the fiction and its creators. The experience of this made-up world is so real, it brings us closer to the family themselves, and you feel like you understand what it was to be a Brontë sibling – gifted, isolated, tragic, and loved. Isabel Greenberg is the only one who could bring us here, having honed a perfect style that feels timeless, dark, and a little otherworldly. Who else but the Brontë children could appreciate that?
—— Kate BeatonIsabel Greenberg has an uncanny gift for the tone of storytelling that makes you feel like you're tucked up safe in bed being told a story by someone with a twinkle in their eye... The art throughout is consistently inventive and engaging, playing with the overlapping of reality and fantasy… The book works on many levels but perhaps the most powerful is the feeling of a child's imagination at work within the heart and mind of a grown genius in grief.
—— Jenny Robins , QuietusGlass Town, the graphic novel by Isabel Greenberg, is a wonder. Utterly beautiful, richly imagined - a beautiful vision of the young Brontës and the freedom and expression that imagination brings.
—— Rowan ColemanHere, Greenberg creates a metatextual fantasy, placing the young [Brontë] siblings directly into their imagined world.
—— iAn intriguing, insightful not-quite-biography of the Brontë which explores both their real and imaginary worlds.
—— Yvette Huddleston , Yorkshire PostA tale about the collision between dreamlike places of possibility and constrained lives. None of the Brontë would reach 40. Yet their work still entrances us and Greenberg gives their tangled early creations gripping and generous life.
—— James Smart , GuardianA vivid foundation story for the great torrent of romantic fiction that was shortly to burst forth.
—— Strong Words