The Pillbox

Murder, treachery, and a terrible secret... David Hughes' new graphic novel takes us on a very sinister seaside holiday

The Pillbox captures time, twists it, and reconstructs it, to create a truly haunting experience… Once you’ve encountered it, it’ll stay with you forever.

Hughes’ stunningly drawn book makes the past and present nestle in original and uncomfortable ways.

David Hughes is an artist whose work combines illustration, graphic design, photography and animation. In 2003 he received the Pentagram Award for his outstanding contribution to the art of illustration. His drawings have appeared in the Observer, New Yorker, Esquire and Guardian among others. He has received great acclaim for his children's books, Strat and Chatto (1990) and Bully (1992). In 2006 he published his version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

On holiday in Suffolk, a boy and his dog discover a World War II pillbox half buried on a deserted beach. When he returns the next day with his parents, the pillbox has disappeared. They learn a pillbox had been there and a boy had once been found in it, dead... 
 
1945, another boy, another dog, the same pillbox … and an American serviceman from the local base. Murder, treachery, a terrible secret… 
 
David Hughes’ second graphic novel is a haunting ghost story – dark, disturbing and – as always with Hughes – stunningly drawn.

David Hughes

Approaching fifty, and warned by his doctor that he's drinking too much and needs to take more exercise, David Hughes is given a dog for his birthday - Dexter, a wire-haired fox terrier. 
 
Hughes' daily walks with Dexter form the spine of Walking the Dog. We eavesdrop on their encounters with fellow dog-walkers ('Hello Hector', 'Hello Chester'...) and on Hughes' thoughts as he plods along carrying a plastic bag of poo. He begins to remember moments from his past, dark memories of murder and violence. He explores his own fantasies and obsessions. From the gentle comedy of the early pages, Walking the Dog is transformed into something deeper and more disturbing. 
 
This will be a landmark book in the field of graphic literature. The drawing is sublime, the imagination extraordinary, the ambition unequalled.

David Hughes

Books by David Hughes

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