Just So Happens

(Hardback)

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Description

A debut graphic novel of delicate beauty about outsiders and what we mean when we say 'home'. 'I still remember arriving in the city for the first time... It wasn't easy... But here, London, is my home.' Yumiko is a young Japanese woman who has made London her home. She has a job, a boyfriend; Japan seems far away. Then, out of the blue, her brother calls to tell her that her father has died in a mountaineering accident. Yumiko returns to Tokyo for the funeral and finds herself immersed in the rituals of Japanese life and death - and confronting a decision she hadn't expected to have to make. Just So Happens is a graphic novel by a young artist and storyteller of rare talent. Fumio Obata's drawing, in particular, is marvellous in its power and delicacy.

Reviews

Just So Happens feels so richly intimate... [Obata] is a talent to watch. I like his elegant, understated drawings, which hint at the manga stories he must have read as a boy. Bullet trains, Shinto temples, shopping malls, sushi restaurants: he does them all beautifully. His storytelling, too, is crazily accomplished. -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *
A beautiful and observant graphic novel. -- James Smart * Guardian *
This is a book you may want to study, a book of inflection and nuance, a delicate, thoughtful book that entrances the eyes and compels the old grey matter. * Bookmunch *
A powerful story dealt with a deft brush in hand. * Monocle *
Told with great care and dignity... The illustrations reflect the mood of the story perfectly, creating a sense of movement and transition which mirrors Yumiko's journey. -- Vicki Bartram * UK Press Syndication *

Author Bio

Born in Tokyo, Fumio Obata moved to Britain in 1991. He studied illustration at Glasgow School of Art and obtained a masters from the Royal College of Art. In 2008 he was an artist in residence at Angoulame. www.fumioobata.co.uk