We talked through email about her second book, The One Hundred Nights of Hero, the premise of which is loosely based on Scheherazade’s One Thousand and One Nights. Her first graphic novel, The Encyclopedia of Early Earth, was published in 2013. In 2011 she won the Observer/Jonathan Cape/Comica graphic short story prize. She studied illustration at the University of Brighton and has written for a variety of outlets including the Guardian, Nobrow Press, The National Trust, Seven Stories Press, and the New York Times. But its unwaveringly courageous attitude is inspiring and uplifting, and it left me feeling like I’d just sat through a powerful performance in an intimate theater.Isabel Greenberg is a London-based illustrator and writer. The subject matter is often far from light, dealing with an oppressive yet familiar patriarchy and plenty of abusive men. I’ve been reading graphic novels before bed lately, and this was by far my most enjoyable evening read yet. I savored every story, just as Hero’s audience did. Despite the classic setup, there are few clichés or tropes to be found. Greenberg has a natural talent for crafting tidy packages of adventure, mystery, and sorrow that could stand easily on their own. This is a story about stories, but its frame-story structure is not a gimmick. Greenberg’s illustration style, paired with her simple and captivating storytelling, made for a magical myth in the style of One Thousand and One Nights. From the publisherĪfter flipping through the first couple of pages of this charming graphic novel at my local library, I was hooked.
Those tales are beautifully depicted here, touching on themes of love and betrayal and loyalty and madness.Īs intricate and richly imagined as the works of Chris Ware, and leavened with a dry wit that rivals Kate Beaton’s in Hark! A Vagrant, Isabel Greenberg’s One Hundred Nights of Hero will capture readers’ hearts and minds, taking them through a magical medieval world. The two women hatch a plan: Hero, a member of the League of Secret Story Tellers, will distract Manfred by regaling him with a mesmerizing tale each night for 100 nights, keeping him at bay. In the Empire of Migdal Bavel, Cherry is married to Jerome, a wicked man who makes a diabolical wager with his friend Manfred: if Manfred can seduce Cherry in one hundred nights, he can have his castle–and Cherry.īut what Jerome doesn’t know is that Cherry is in love with her maid Hero. Re-readability: I might revisit this one someday Published by Little, Brown and Company, 2016 The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg
0 kommentar(er)
