Mothballs

In this moving family saga, a teenage woman uncovers the hushed history of sexual violence that shattered her grandmother's life.

Publisher Marketing: Otero's Mothballs is an unflinching look at family, love and choosing your own path. It stayed with me long after I read it.--Eleanor Davis (The Hard Tomorrow) Review Quotes : Bursting with color and linework that playfully dances across the page, this electric English-language debut marks Otero as a rising star of international comics.-- "Publishers Weekly Starred Review" Review Quotes : Remarkable.--Sam Thielman "The New York Times" Brief Description : "With an immersive multigenerational story line and distinctive artwork, Otero's debut graphic novel charts the ripple effects of wartime decisions. In the words of Ro, an Argentinean college student living in her late grandmother's house, on "the chain of happenstances that led to my existence... Mussolini's persecutions are at the top of that list." In a series of flashbacks, Ro narrates her grandmother's story: after Vilma's communist parents flee fascist Italy for Argentina, Vilma and her brother Antonio form a close bond; she even keeps his cross-dressing a secret. When her parents force Vilma to work in a factory at age 12 to put Antonio through school, he promises to return the favor. After he chooses marriage to a woman for whom he must provide instead, Vilma becomes the bitter grudge-holder Ro knew as a child. Vilma dislikes most things, but especially politics--they upended her life once, and she wants nothing to do with "the wrong crowd" again. As Ro comes to resent her friends for ditching her for guys, and shrugs off present-day political unrest, she fears that she's "going to end up alone," like Vilma. But with help from her grandmother's ghost--a shape-shifting portrait drawn in shimmering rainbow pencil marks--Ro realizes she can take charge of her life in ways Vilma couldn't or wouldn't." Review Quotes : Tender, humorous and heart-wrenching, Mothballs ' family saga highlights the impact of generational trauma, the importance of healing as a family, and of breaking the chain of violence, secrets and sadness. A wonderfully thoughtful debut from Sole Otero--Lydia Turner "Broken Frontier" Publisher Marketing :

Format: Paperback | Pages: 336 | Publication Date: 2024-08-13