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Reading lists

8 of the most beautiful graphic novels

Glass Town

The entrancing story of the Brontë sisters’ childhood imaginary world, from the New York Times bestselling graphic novelist

A wild journey: an odyssey… A feat of narrative concision that is by turns dreamy, and gritty. If it’s a fantastic comic – and I think that it is – then it’s also one of the best books about the Brontës’ juvenilia ever written.

A brilliant, bonkers tribute to the Brontës… Isabel Greenberg has done something extraordinary… Glass Town works so well because while the Brontës’ own story is absolutely devastating, the Glass Town scenes are full of fun… They made their world for the sheer pleasure of making, and that pleasure radiates off Greenberg’s pages too.

Oh, this is good… [Glass Town] is a wonderfully moving exploration of the line between creator and creation. And mortality and immortality, for that matter. It is also another reminder that Greenberg is one of the most singular and imaginative graphic novelists we have.

The weird and wonderful world of the Brontës is brought to life in beautiful, blazing colour… A wonderful book. Greenberg is impressively well-informed about the Brontës, but handles her facts lightly, allowing full power to the beautiful and sensitive images… It’s strange how moving these images are.

[A] beautifully drawn graphic novel… From the vivid artwork to a story as poignant and touching as it is witty, this is an artful, inventive and deeply moving mash-up of fact and fiction.

Magical… Greenberg’s illustrations are wonderful – witty, uncanny, melancholy and funny, brilliantly capturing the creativity of the hugely gifted Brontës.

Glass Town is a vivid historical fiction following the lives of the Brontë family… [Greenberg] gracefully moves in and out of the Brontë dreamworld… Glass Town might provide a kind of meta-escapism for a moment in time when many of us feel that fiction is brighter than reality.

Glass Town is a book to savour, a captivating mash-up of fact and fantasy, with something wonderful on every page. I loved it.

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.

The 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.

Magical. Isabel Greenberg's drawings are delightful and her imaginative response to the young Brontës' fantasy lives is touching, funny and perceptive.

A 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?

Isabel 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.

Glass 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.

Here, Greenberg creates a metatextual fantasy, placing the young [Brontë] siblings directly into their imagined world.

An intriguing, insightful not-quite-biography of the Brontë which explores both their real and imaginary worlds.

A 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.

A vivid foundation story for the great torrent of romantic fiction that was shortly to burst forth.

Isabel Greenberg is a London-based illustrator and writer. She is the author of three critically acclaimed graphic novels, including Glass Town, and has been nominated for two Eisner Awards. She is also the illustrator of several children’s books and an associate lecturer at University of the Arts London.

The entrancing story of the Brontë sisters' childhood imaginary world, from the New York Times bestselling graphic novelist. 
 
Four children: Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne have invented a world so real and vivid that they can step right into it. But can reality be enough, when fiction is so enticing? And what happens to an imaginary world when its creators grow up? 
 
Plots are spiralling, characters are getting wildly out of hand, and a great deal of ink is being spilt... 
 
Welcome to Glass Town.

The One Hundred Nights of Hero

'A feminist fairy-tale, which I recommend if you’re looking for a Christmas present for a teenage girl… A wondrously intricate book, and a witty attack on the patriarchy, this is an instant classic.' 
Rachel Cooke, an Observer Book of the Year

A feminist fairy-tale, which I recommend if you’re looking for a Christmas present for a teenage girl… A wondrously intricate book, and a witty attack on the patriarchy, this is an instant classic.

[An] enchanting second graphic novel.

Greenburg has an extraordinary lightness of touch, piling humour and a wonderfully conversational tone into the narrative, which shines brightly and juxtaposes the darkness. Her illustration is similarly bustling with humour and character.

Think The Arabian Nights depicted through ink and block shades in this gorgeously stylised graphic novel. Despite being fiction, its power lies in its honest and witty narration which so perfectly reflects the lives of women in our own world.

'A feminist fairy-tale... A wondrously intricate book, and a witty attack on the patriarchy, this is an instant classic.' Observer 
 
 
From the author who brought you The Encyclopedia of Early Earth comes another Epic Tale of Derring-Do. 
 
Prepare to be dazzled once more by the overwhelming power of stories and see Love prevail in the face of Terrible Adversity! 
 
You will read of betrayal, loyalty, madness, bad husbands, lovers both faithful and unfaithful, wise old crones, moons who come out of the sky, musical instruments that won't stay quiet, friends and brothers and fathers and mothers and above all, many, many sisters.

The Encyclopedia of Early Earth

‘It’s a book about many things – love, snow, god, poisoned sausages...but mostly it’s a celebration of storytelling itself. Strange and wry and funny and beautifully drawn.’ 
Mark Haddon 
 
Winner of the Best Book Award at the 2014 British Comic Awards

There’s much myth and magic in the pages of this colossal work of illustrated fiction.

This is a hugely enjoyable and remarkable book, with much to discover below the surface.

It’s a whimsical, light-hearted book that reads like the best kind of bedtime story – a new take on something familiar and much loved.

There is a pleasing unity to these far-flung stories appearing alongside one another. Greenberg is clearly fascinated by the universality of myth.

Timelessly brilliant… Isabel Greenberg is clearly destined to make a big contribution to British comics.

Greenberg’s book celebrates snow and storytelling in all their various forms.

Greenberg both tells and illustrates with warm, whimsical beauty.

Fantastical, often touching yarns, which graphic novelist Greenberg tells and illustrates with warm, whimsical beauty.

A work of exquisite originality... This book has the sort of energy and depth that will appeal to readers of all ages. Early Earth encompasses humour, wit, tragedy, brutality and the most bittersweet love story you can imagine.

I cannot recommend you getting a copy of The Encyclopedia of Early Earth enough. It really is just wonderful how every page will hold a story within a picture, yet all those pictures create another story which adds a layer, back story, or myth around the story we are following.

I was instantly struck by how breathtakingly beautiful it was… Prepare for some stunning mythology that you will never have read before… This is the kind of book you will want to take home and keep forever. It’s timeless folklore and exquisite drawings will convert lovers of fantasy and mythology to the wonders of graphic novels

Greenberg speaks of storytellers but she's a great storyteller herself, and it's easy to be pulled into the worlds that she writes, housed neatly by tight drawings in a style that is bright enough to bring these worlds to life, and detached enough to feel a little otherworldly.

‘It’s a book about many things – love, snow, god, poisoned sausages...but mostly it’s a celebration of storytelling itself. Strange and wry and funny and beautifully drawn.’

The Encyclopedia of Early Earth is a delightful accordion of a book. This graphic novel casts a spell like that of Scheherazade – when you sit down with it, prepare to stay until the last page.

One of the most anticipated debuts of 2013.

Winner of the Best Book Award at the 2014 British Comic Awards 
 Readers! This book is not a real encyclopedia! 
 
It is an epic work of fiction, detailing the many tales and adventures of one lonely storyteller, on a quest for Enlightenment and True Love. This book contains many stories, big and small, about and pertaining to the following things: Gods, monsters, mad kings, wise old crones, shamans, medicine men, brothers and sisters, strife, mystery, bad science, worse geography, and did we already mention true love? 
 
Critics are saying it is probably the best thing since sliced bread. Maybe even since bread knives.

Isabel Greenberg

A gamechanger. Vibrant, vital and galvanic storytelling &ndash; Young Hag will win legions of fans

Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Girl of Ink & Stars

Isabel Greenberg has honed a perfect style that feels timeless

Honest, charming and so fun. I couldn't put it down. Pure magic

A gorgeous celebration of myths and myth-making, full of wit, wisdom and joy. I devoured this wonderful book in one blissful sitting

Entrancing and fierce, this is a coming-of -age story which speaks of courage and female power, lending space to the old Arthurian legends for a modern audience (of all ages). Young Hag is an absolute delight!

No one does it like Isabel Greenberg! I love her strange imaginary landscapes and bold, spikey heroines. Young Hag had me rapt from start to finish. Fun, funny and totally charming

Greenberg&rsquo;s illustrations are wonderful &ndash; witty, uncanny, melancholy and funny

Greenberg both tells and illustrates with warm, whimsical beauty

With a charming art style and a vibrant set of quirky characters, Young Hag is a fun and memorable tale

Once there was magic in Britain. There were dragons and wizards and green knights and kings who pulled swords out of stones. But now, the doors to the Otherworld have closed. 
 
'Gamechanger... Will win legions of fans' KIRAN MILLWOOD HARGRAVE 
 
‘I couldn't put it down. Pure magic’ MARISSA MEYER 
 
'Timeless' KATE BEATON 
 
Young Hag has grown up believing her mother and grandmother are the last witches in the land. But when tragedy strikes, she turns her back on these tales. Where is their magic when they really need it? 
 
Then one day they find a changeling in the woods. Confronted with real magic at last, Young Hag has no choice but to believe. She sets off on the greatest quest of her life; but can Young Hag bring the magic back? Or will she become a footnote in the tale of famous kings and wizards? 
 
From the acclaimed creator of Glass Town and The One Hundred Nights of Hero comes a dazzlingly imaginative escape into the world of myth. Young Hag ingeniously reinvents the women in Arthurian legend, transforming the tales of old into a heart-warming coming-of-age story. 
 
**A GUARDIAN GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR**

Isabel Greenberg

Praise for Young Hag

Thoroughly entertaining

A gamechanger. Vibrant, vital and galvanic storytelling – Young Hag will win legions of fans

Isabel Greenberg has honed a perfect style that feels timeless

Thoroughly entertaining

A gamechanger. Vibrant, vital and galvanic storytelling – Young Hag will win legions of fans

Isabel Greenberg has honed a perfect style that feels timeless

Thoroughly entertaining

A gamechanger. Vibrant, vital and galvanic storytelling – Young Hag will win legions of fans

Isabel Greenberg has honed a perfect style that feels timeless

Books by Isabel Greenberg

Articles featuring Isabel Greenberg

8 of the most beautiful graphic novels

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