‘Lucille’ Begins the Summer of Top Shelf in Devastating Style [Preview]

The summer of 2011 will be remembered as an especially productive one for Top Shelf Productions, as the publisher is releasing a plethora of graphic novels and other books that it's comparing to such classics as Blankets and Essex County. We'll be bringing you previews of those comics over the next several days and we begin with Lucille, the English debut of French cartoonist Ludovic Debeurme. The story of two young people struggling with anorexia, alcoholism, and various levels of filial distress, the lovely Lucille comes in at 544 pages. You can check out a 20-page preview below.

On sale later this month, Lucille is available for pre-order at Top Shelf's website or from Things From Another World.

After years of acclaim in Europe, graphic novelist Ludovic Debeurme makes his English-language debut with a book of quiet grace and staggering emotional power.

This rich and intimate story follows two teenagers, Lucille and Arthur, as they struggle with the complex legacies inherited from their families: legacies of illness and pride, of despair and hope. Somehow two lonely misfits form an instant connection, and with the intoxicating boldness of youth, they journey together across Europe, discovering each other, discovering themselves, and hoping against all odds to make their own

destiny.

Lucille is more than a story about anorexia, alcoholism, and adolescence. It's a story of love amidst tragedy, full of the halting awkwardness of life and the operatic grandeur of teenage emotion. -- A 544-page deluxe softcover graphic novel with french flaps, 6.625" x 8.875"