A Thousand Coloured Castles

(Hardback)

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Description

Myriam is seeing things, and so can we, but her husband Fred is adamant it's all a lot of nonsense. But when she sees a young boy shut up in the house next door, she is determined to investigate. Gareth Brookes once again twitches the net curtains of the suburban south in this gloriously crayoned follow-up to the prize-winning The Black Project.

Reviews

'As a drama, A Thousand Coloured Castles is a stellar performance. Brookes has created a story of disability and personal strength that is amplified by his formal experimentation. That's a hard combination to find, and makes A Thousand Coloured Castles essential reading.' - Alex Hoffman, Sequential State

'Strikingly original and beautiful. Genuinely distinctive...The combination of narrative uncertainty, genuinely dark musings about what lies behind a suburban facade, childlike art and convincing characters is inspired. A perfect synthesis of form and content, and an essential purchase.' - Pete Redrup, The Quietus

'Burns brightly with a remarkable story, a powerful sense of humanity, and a pull that will leave the reader picking this book up again and again.' - Luke Marlowe, Disclaimer Magazine

'Graphic Medicine meets twee middle class suburbia in Gareth Brookes's darkly comedic triumph... one of the most important creators currently working in UK indie comics.' - Andy Oliver, Broken Frontier

'Using chalks and crayons, as well as panels that evolve in colour and form, Brookes creates a kaleidoscopic experience that is full of humour and disquietude.' - Josh Franks, Ink Magazine

'With real empathy and understanding Brookes evokes the bewilderment, frailty and potential helplessness of being lost or alone in old age, with prospects diminishing rapidly. It reminds me of Paul Scott's prose masterpiece 'Staying On' (which featured an elderly couple similarly at odds but trying to get by).' - Stephen Holland, Page45

'A wonderful work... Such a powerful take on suburbia and marriage. Brookes is an observer of rare and delicate insight.' - Meg Rosoff

'A thoughtful, considered and beautifully observed piece of work. Brookes explores a genuine medical condition with insight and sensitivity, as he asks the reader to think about their responses to others in distress.' - Pamreader

'This book is, simply, genius... With a great ear for dialogue and strong characterisation, alongside art that's for me, the visual equivalent of running fingernails across a chalkboard, I was thoroughly captured by this suburban nightmare. Seek and buy! Stunning...' - John Freeman, Down The Tubes

'Absolutely wonderful. You have managed to explain this horrible condition exactly as it happens to people. Brilliant.' - Judith Potts, The Telegraph

'The ambiguity of what we mean by 'real' visual experience is masterfully depicted. I particularly liked the wry humour of Fred and Myriam's aging relationship: Myriam's worries about what she is seeing and how she and her family deal with it will be entirely familiar to the thousands of people that have gone through a similar situation.' Dr Dominic Ffytche

'A beautiful book... The way the drawings can move and coalesce from the mundane and everyday to the fantastical and unaccountable makes the hallucinatory experiences palpable and disturbing.' - Mark Wallinger

'Gareth Brookes is one of the most surprising comics creators working anywhere in the world. A Thousand Coloured Castles is entirely rendered in shimmering layers of coarse waxy crayon. The effect is astonishing, unsettling and strange. An extraordinary achievement.' - Dylan Horrocks

'I really, really love it. If the future of UK comics doesn't go where Brookes is taking it then I'm not interested.' - Hannah Berry

Author Bio

Gareth Brookes was born in Woking and studied Fine Art at Newcastle University and The Royal College of Art. In 2012 he was the winner of the Myriad First Graphic Novel Competition, with an extract from his graphic novel The Black Project (Myriad, 2013), which went on to win Best Original Graphic Novel at the Broken Frontier Award and was longlisted for Best Book at the British Comic Awards. Original work from the book was featured in the 2014 Comics Unmasked show at The British Library. Known for his unusual approach to materials, he has used embroidery, textiles, lino-cut print, stenciling and even pressed flowers in his work and much of his self-published output is handmade. He has delivered workshops at The Eden Project and elsewhere.