Arsene Schrauwen

Utopia comes with a price in this European cartoonist's graphic novel debut inspired by his mid-century colonialist grandfather.

In 1947, the author’s grandfather, Arsene Schrauwen, traveled across the ocean to a mysterious, dangerous jungle colony at the behest of his cousin. Together they would build something deemed impossible: a modern utopia in the wilderness ― but not before Arsene falls in love with his cousin’s wife, Marieke. Whether delirious from love or a fever-inducing jungle virus, Arsene’s loosening grip on reality is mirrored by the graphic novel reader’s uncertainty of what is imagined or real by Arsene. This first full-length graphic novel from the critically-acclaimed Olivier Schrauwen is an engrossing, sometimes funny, slightly surreal and often beautiful narrative.

Finalist, 2014 Los Angeles Times Book Prize – Graphic Novel/Comics

Shortlist, Slate's 2014 Cartoonist Studio Prize for Best Print Comic of the Year