Synopsis
A budding friendship between two misfits unravels in the wake of school violence
Schoolyard outcasts Charlie and Astrid meet up after school near a cliff at the edge of the woods surrounding their sleepy town. They make a blood pact to jump together in five days time, before their thirteenth birthdays. Not that navigating the unspoken pecking order of the school quad makes it easy. Can the intensity of their bond survive the scrutiny of their peers, or will it crumble under the sum of each other’s disappointments?
Manon Debaye’s characters live in a world just on the periphery of adult supervision, where kids prey upon one another with casual aplomb only to find themselves completely out of their depth. A deft use of colored pencils brings sleepy but barren suburban landscapes to the fore, further capturing childhood’s last pivotal moments as it teeters on the edge of adolescence with startling honesty in this devastatingly well-crafted debut.
From: Drawn & Quarterly
Notes on This Title
The topic of suicide is a primary focus of this title. It also contains depictions of bullying, blood and injuries, and violence.
The main character is a twelve-year-old who is strongly implied to be queer.
Awards
Prix Philippe Druillet 2023
2024 Cartoonist Studio Prize Award for Best Long-Form Comic - Nominee
Reviews
Starred Review: “Readers will be haunted by this simultaneously modern and painfully timeless tale.” (Source: Publishers Weekly)
“Like life for many of us at Charlie and Astrid’s age, Debaye’s work is dark, though there are moments of brightness.” (Source: The Comics Journal)
Interviews
None.