In 1947, the author’s grandfather, Arsène Schrauwen, traveled across the ocean to a mysterious, dangerous jungle colony at the behest of his cousin. Together they would build something deemed impossible: a modern utopia in the wilderness — but not before Arsène falls in love with his cousin’s wife, Marieke. Whether delirious from love or a fever-inducing jungle virus, Arsène’s loosening grip on reality is mirrored by the graphic novel reader’s uncertainty of what is imagined or real by Arsène. This first full-length graphic novel from the critically acclaimed Olivier Schrauwen is an engrossing, sometimes funny, slightly surreal and often beautiful narrative. Originally released in 2014, Arsène Schrauwen heralded the then largely-unknown-to-English readers Olivier Schrauwen as a major voice in international comics — a reputation that has only gained momentum over the ensuing decade with releases like 2024’s Sunday.
