Thieves

Here’s a slice of teenage life and romance from French cartoonist and graphic novelist Lucie Bryon. Ella has a crush on schoolmate Madelaine, and enjoys her first conversation with the object of her affection at a party at Madelaine’s house. However, it goes rapidly downhill, as drunk Ella throws up in a cupboard in Madelaine’s bedroom, and wakes up at home the next day surrounded by items she has apparently stolen from Madelaine. But all is not as it seems, for it turns out that Madelaine had already stolen all of them at parties at various other houses. As their relationship develops, Ella and Madelaine resolve to return all the filched goods by attending a string of parties at the houses of Madelaine’s earlier victims. Full of sharp dialogue and inventive graphics that often switch to pictorial metaphors to convey Ella’s feelings, and alongside the rather far-fetched main storyline, there’s a well-observed tale of the ups and downs of Ella and Madelaine’s love, including touching on the more serious issue of what drives Madelaine to steal. As no translator is credited, I assume the English dialogue is all Bryon’s own work. For the most part, peppered with expletives, it has a familiar transatlantic ring. Its French origins only occasionally showing through. I doubt many American or English high school students just about to enter a large house for a party would greet it ironically with cries of ‘Eat the Rich’ and ‘Fuck the Bourgeoisie’. But then what do I know? Well, I do know this book is touching, funny and perceptive.