Honoria: A Fortuitous Friendship

Honoria, the daughter of Sara and Gerald Murphy, who invented the literary "summer on the Riviera" in the 1920s, is used to her parents' endless parties with such luminaries as Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, at their splendid house at Cap d'Antibes. When sheltered and unsophisticated Ida visits for a summer, Honoria becomes both her mentor and tormentor, as well as her role model and, finally, her friend.

Publisher Marketing: Shapiro offers a curious and affecting story of grief and growth in cartoon form.-- "Library Journal" Review Quotes : A very compelling story. I couldn't put it down. A great graphic novel!--R. Crumb Review Quotes : An enchanting graphic novel debut. Shapiro draws readers into 9-year-old Ida's perspective and quietly portrays her blossoming with humor and innocence.-- "Kirkus Reviews" Review Quotes : A beachside villa in the South of France provides the backdrop for this poignant graphic novel debut from short story writer Shapiro. ... It's a witty and wonderful story of friendship in all its forms.-- "Publishers Weekly Starred Review" Review Quotes : Honoria brims with lost-world magic and youthful wisdom, depicting a Xanadu where grown-ups are inscrutable and time stands still--if only for one summer in 1929.-- "Vanity Fair" Publisher Marketing : When Ida is sent away for the summer to stay with the Murphys -- friends of her father, but also of Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald -- she travels from New York to France and, unknowingly, into the artistic epicenter of 1929. There, she meets their haughty, sullen, and precocious daughter, Honoria, and wonders if she can be friends with the prettiest girl in the whole world. In the "perfect inverted world" of adults, one of constant play and leisure -- and inebriation, of course -- it's the children who most acutely perceive the pervasive unhappiness bubbling beneath the surface gaiety.

Format: Hardcover | Pages: 352 | Publication Date: 2025-04-01