Alison: a stunning and emotional graphic novel for fans of Sally Rooney, from an award winning illustrator and author

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Praise for It's Not What You Thought It Would Be: 'This brilliant debut collection explores the intensity of teenage ennui and female friendship, with a deft feel for its slights and tensions -- Rachel Cooke * Guardian *

Alison discovers a talent for painting at Kerr’s class and begins sitting for him. Within months, she has left her husband for Kerr and Dorset for London. Here, the great man critiques her portraits and takes her to smug parties where she feels like the “most misplaced person” in the room. But, slowly, she finds her own friends and haunts. She buys oil paints, canvas and tinned food with her meagre earnings and explores the city, “screeching with laughter on the bus after a po-faced gallery opening” with her sculptor friend Tessa, while her work grows stronger and stronger. The book’s skewering of the art establishment is often very funny, but there’s fury here too I really don’t want to give anything else away, but let’s just say that Alison is a heartbreaking, emotionally charged, but ultimately uplifting work of art. Yes, a work of art, I loved the artwork in Alison, Lizzy Stewart’s way of using mixed media in the form of the graphic novel ( some written, some drawn ) works so well. It’s a gloriously gorgeous piece of work, and the first I have read of Lizzy Stewart, but it won’t be the last. Baby’s first graphic novel! And OMG why didn’t anyone tell me how much I was missing out, and that adding STUNNING artwork to a book doesn’t mean it’s any less of a story?! Consider me sold. Subtle and deliciously complicated, this is a big book on big subjects, but lightly, elegantly done. I loved it'Tessa Hadley, author of Free LoveA delicious portrait of 80s and 90s London and a more universal tale of a working-class young woman making a life in a world that has not been designed for the likes of her. For all its effortlessness [...] Alison ends up carrying a great emotional heft. It's a lovely book, and I cried at the end.' Guardian A genius graphic novel (but lots of words) about a young woman from Dorset who leaves her life to be with a much older famous artist in London. It's also brilliant on relationships, creativity and friendship (and the art world) -- India Knight It’s not an easy mix to get right, but Stewart makes this scrapbook approach feel like the most natural thing in the world. There’s a deceptive economy to both her drawings, in which a few short lines evoke an array of emotions, and her prose, which moves with an easy eloquence from “the familiar colours of West Country rain” to “a call that leaves her crumpled and alone in a department store”. The book’s skewering of the art establishment is often very funny, but there’s fury here too, at inequality, misogyny and the barriers put up by established artists and fixers, “all those old men who told me I should paint portraits of myself naked”.

This book is a testament to the right to choose your own life' Jessica Andrews, author of Saltwater Lizzy Stewart’s new graphic novel charts the adult life of Alison as she slowly learns her own value, finds her own tribe, and falls into a wholly unexpected profession as a painter. Alison is an everywoman who somehow beats the odds to escape a mundane existence, even as she continually questions her right to do so and grapples with her mixed feelings about the role her mentor/predator played in her career path. Stewart paints a richly defined portrait of this most unexpected heroine across multiple decades, revealing the highs and lows that hone an average, listless girl into an acclaimed artist with deep personal relationships. Find a list of all recommended books at: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/october-2022-graphic-novels-with-lizzy-stewart This really had everything - if you think that cover is beautiful just wait until you open it up and see the amazing drawings etc inside. I loved the way the author added so many different styles, colours and even interspersed the art with letters at points.Two years in I realized that my life was no better or worse because of it. I think every girl wants better or worse, ideally better, I suppose. But sometimes worse can be so delicious, so enlivening that we’ll take it, simply to have something to do.” Mournful, lovely ... Stewart's dynamic, warm, flowing art invites the reader in * The New York Times * I loved it, so well put together. I loved the art style as well as the subtly this book uses to cover some really big subjects. For me Alison had everything - if you think that cover is beautiful just wait until you open it up and see the amazing drawings inside. I really liked the way the author added so many different styles, colours and even interspersed the art with letters, it was visually fabulous. A delicious portrait of 80s and 90s London and a more universal tale of a working-class young woman making a life in a world that has not been designed for the likes of her. For all its effortlessness [...] Alison ends up carrying a great emotional heft. It's a lovely book, and I cried at the end. * Guardian * Alison is Posy Simmonds meets Edward Bawden - and really, what higher praise could there be?' Observer

And I liked the way the story was told (mix of paragraphs, comics, letters, picture rows), that made it a really diverse an immersive reading experience.

And so she does. Alison becomes a self-supporting artist whose works are exhibited in London galleries, develops a community of friends, and thrives. A genius graphic novel (but lots of words) about a young woman from Dorset who leaves her life to be with a much older famous artist in London. It's also brilliant on relationships, creativity and friendship (and the art world)'India Knight The first-person narrative is the tale of Alison Porter, born in 1958 in Bridport, Dorset. The narrator asserts, “We were ordinary, which made me assume we must be happy. Whether we felt it or not.” A captivating new graphic novel that could have been dreamt up by Edna O'Brien and Judith Kerr of The Tiger Who Came To Tea fame, had they ever collaborated. * The Gloss Ireland *

Her compassionate depictions of women alone, women together, will undoubtedly find welcoming audiences * Shelf Awareness * Stewart doesn’t answer that question, if it’s even answerable. Instead, she tells Alison’s story - the story of so many female artists, as well as so many others on the margins. For every Alison who ends up with a successful career, there are many others who didn’t. For every Alison who could overcome the men who take advantage of her, there are many others who couldn’t. Stewart presents a nuanced story that forces the reader to ask the questions and, hopefully, to see the power structures that still exist in the art world (and elsewhere) for what they are. Alison might not be able to disentangle her life from those people in power, but Stewart’s question should help the reader begin the work of doing so. A beautiful depiction of life as an artist, of the movements of love and time. I absolutely loved it. -- Megan Hunter, author of The End We Start From Every now and again a book comes along that is such a bright joy, so true, so beautiful and moving. Alison is one of those books. I loved it'Jessie Burton, author of The MiniaturistAlison is newly married, barely twenty and struggling to find her place in the world. A chance encounter with an older artist upturns her life and she forsakes convention and her working-class Dorset roots for the thrumming art scene of London in the late seventies. Lizzy's work is beautifully executed with an eye for composition, colour and fine detail * It's Nice That * This book is a testament to the right to choose your own life. It is a tender, heartbreaking meditation on the bonds between women, the dazzle of the city, the struggle to become a female artist within the bounds of patriarchy, and the desire to make a mark on the world. It made me long for my friends; the dreams we have shared over the years and the ways in which they make the world feel possible. I want to give a copy to everyone I love. -- Jessica Andrews, author of Saltwater and Milk Teeth