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Days of the Bagnold Summer
Days of the Bagnold Summer
Oct 9, 2024 9:26 AM

Author:Joff Winterhart

Days of the Bagnold Summer

Discover the quirky tale of single parenting and heavy metal behind the new film from director Simon Bird (The Inbetweeners)

'When someone looks back and writes a history of this summer, two people they will almost certainly leave out are Sue and Daniel Bagnold...'

So begins Joff Winterhart's sublimely funny and perceptive graphic novel, Days of the Bagnold Summer. Sue, 52, works in a library. Daniel, 15, is still at school. This was the summer holidays Daniel was due to spend with his father and his father's pregnant new wife in Florida. When they cancel his trip, Sue and Daniel face six long weeks together...

Joff Winterhart perfectly captures the ennui, the tension, the pathos and yes, the affection of this mother-son relationship. Already well-known for his animated films like Violet and Turquoise, he here shows himself to be a comics author of extraordinary talent.

Shortlisted for the 2012 Costa Award for Best Novel

Reviews

Days of the Bagnold Summer is extremely original, funny, touching and beautifully observed in both the drawing and the writing. There is probably no truer portrait of teenage and parental angst.

—— Posy Simmonds

A universal crowd pleaser...my graphic novel of the year... I love this book so much, I would have to instantly excommunicate any friend who didn’t feel the same way – though such is its greatness, this won’t ever happen.

—— Rachel Cooke , Observer

Britain’s got a new graphic novel star. This funny, sad, extraordinary study of a heavy metal-loving teen and his long-suffering single mum is so well observed it makes your heart tingle.

—— Larushka Ivan-Zadek , Metro

Days of the Bagnold Summer captures the humiliation and agony of adolescence with excruciating precision. This short, devastating book haunted me for weeks.

—— Seb Hunter, author of 'Hell Bent for Leather'

This is a memorable household, seemingly passed over by history yet given their rightful place on these pages – and recommended by us as well worth meeting.

—— thebookbag.co.uk

Superstar in the making…as affecting as Raymond Briggs, as beady as Posy Simmonds, a truly fantastic debut… I cherished Winterhart’s drawings. These Bagnolds are well-observed to the point of cruelty, and yet his affection for them is never in doubt.

—— Rachel Cooke , Observer

Remarkable…beautifully observed and balanced. It’s thought-provoking, entertaining and real without being sycophantic… You should make time for this book..

—— Forbidden Planet Blog

If like me you’re new to graphic novels then trust me when I say this is the perfect starting point, and if you’re a regular graphic novel reader then please give this little volume a chance. It may be small but it has so much heart inside that you’ll never quite be able to leave it behind.

—— bookmonkeyscribbles

Heartfelt and often heartbreaking.

—— Dog Eared Discs

The First World War is often described as a literary war, but it was also the first great photographic war. This book is an extraordinary collection of photographs from the archives of the Imperial War Museums. Depicted are the machines of destruction, the battlefields, the trenches, the beaches but above all the soldiers. Nothing reveals the face of war quite so vividly as the faces of the warriors.

—— Ben Macintyre , The Times

A mini-masterpiece.

—— Independent on Sunday

His silence first mirrors and then amplifies our own horrified stupefaction – and his inky crosshatching speaks for itself, sorrow and rage in every dogged line.

—— Rachel Cooke , Observer

Unlike anything you've ever seen before...renders the destruction on an epic scale but each of the thousands of soldiers is depicted with humanity and detail.

—— Metro

Unfolds in breathtaking detail… Haunting and beautifully rendered.

—— Sunday Times

One of the finest pictographic achievements in recent years… A vivid portrait of courage and honour which will astound you.

—— Haverhill Echo

The "comic book journalist" has gone into a new realm with this, a book that folds out into a single piece, 24ft wide, wordless pen and ink drawing of soldiers leaving the trenches.

—— Shane Hegarty , Irish Times

[Sacco’s] ability to cram in detail is extraordinary. And it is the details that linger.

—— The Economist

When stretched to its 24ft length in the Saga Magazine office, we pored over it for ages. We predict you will want to do the same.

—— Saga Magazine

About Joe Sacco’s The Great War, one can write only essays or short, ecstatic sentences... A beautiful accordion-book, it unfolds on the Western Front, with all its monotony and misery: simple, but intricate; wordless, but vocal; brutal, but beautiful. A masterpiece of quietly affecting numbers, the thousands of lines, dots, and crosses that demarcate the thousands of lives, deaths, and crises.

—— Reggie Chamberlain-King , Quietus

The detail in this work is phenomenal, capturing the aloof generals, death in the trenches, and the wounded... [Sacco] makes visceral one of the bloodiest days in history.

—— Socialist Review

Wordless and brilliant.

—— Donal O'Donoghue , RTE Guide

Sometimes words and photographs are not enough… [An] astounding book.

—— Michael Hodges , Mail on Sunday

A unique and unforgettable experience.

—— Matthew Turner , Ask Men

A meticulous visual depiction.

—— Observer
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