In: The Graphic Novel
On sale
13th May 2021
Price: £22
WINNER OF THE BETTY TRASK PRIZE
‘BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL OF 2021’ Guardian and Irish Times
‘Starts as a charming romantic comedy and turns into something tender and affecting about our need for connection. I loved this one. ‘ David Nicholls
‘Beautiful, bittersweet portrait of modern life . . . his tragicomedy will also make the heart swell.’ Guardian
‘Brilliant.’ Candice Carty-Williams
‘This is a miraculous book.’ Joe Dunthorne
Nick, a young illustrator, can’t connect with people. Whether it’s the barista down the street, his own family or Wren, an oncologist whose life becomes painfully tangled with his, Nick can’t shake the feeling that there is some hidden realm of human interaction beyond his reach. He staggers through meaningless conversations and haunts lookalike, vacuous coffee shops in the hope that he will find it there. But it isn’t until Nick learns to stop performing and speak about the things that really matter that the complex and colourful worlds of the people he meets are finally revealed to him.
Illustrated in both colour and black-and-white in McPhail’s instantly recognisable style, In is poignant, fresh and hilarious. McPhail transforms the graphic novel with a heart-wrenching compassion uncannily appropriate for our isolated times.
‘BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL OF 2021’ Guardian and Irish Times
‘Starts as a charming romantic comedy and turns into something tender and affecting about our need for connection. I loved this one. ‘ David Nicholls
‘Beautiful, bittersweet portrait of modern life . . . his tragicomedy will also make the heart swell.’ Guardian
‘Brilliant.’ Candice Carty-Williams
‘This is a miraculous book.’ Joe Dunthorne
Nick, a young illustrator, can’t connect with people. Whether it’s the barista down the street, his own family or Wren, an oncologist whose life becomes painfully tangled with his, Nick can’t shake the feeling that there is some hidden realm of human interaction beyond his reach. He staggers through meaningless conversations and haunts lookalike, vacuous coffee shops in the hope that he will find it there. But it isn’t until Nick learns to stop performing and speak about the things that really matter that the complex and colourful worlds of the people he meets are finally revealed to him.
Illustrated in both colour and black-and-white in McPhail’s instantly recognisable style, In is poignant, fresh and hilarious. McPhail transforms the graphic novel with a heart-wrenching compassion uncannily appropriate for our isolated times.
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Reviews
This is a miraculous book. Very funny, very sad and very beautiful - all at the same time, somehow.
Brilliant. IN feels so real to me.
A curious, funny and deeply human story about growing up in adulthood. Asks all the questions, and makes a case for real connection in a world full of podcasts and plant-based milk.
Will McPhail draws sensitively and with impeccable emotional precision. In IN, he has created a hilarious, touching, infinitely surprising world. I will read this book many times.
[A] breakout graphic novel...The characters in In are absolutely delightful.
McPhail's delicately lined graphite drawings, neatly squared into comics-y frames, are playful yet full of depth. . . . Impressive art, a relatable hero's struggle, and a healthy dose of humor (Nick haunts establishments with names like 'Your Friends Have Kids Bar' and 'Gentrificchiato') will make McPhail's graphic novel debut appealing to many.
The visuals are scrumptious and the yearning for personal connection is deeply relatable . . . McPhail presents [beats] with style and grace, deftly moving the story along with subtle, impactful visual cues . . . Gorgeous.
Starts as a charming romantic comedy and turns into something tender and affecting about our need to connect. I loved this one.
Beautiful, bittersweet portrait of modern life . . . his tragicomedy will also make the heart swell.
The finest graphic novel of the year was IN by Will McPhail, a clever and touching account of a young illustrator dealing with his mother's illness and his own ennui. This beautifully composed debut mixes nuanced observation with hipster satire, and scalpel-sharp one-liners about the things that don't matter with stumbling attempts to articulate the things that do.
There are few better cartoonists that the New Yorker's Will McPhail, and we can now officially confirm there are few better graphic novelists...There are books which get called funny because they raise a few chuckles, and then there are books which have you wheezing with laughter and reading out multiple paragraphs to whichever long-suffering companion happens to be within hearing. In. is very much the latter kind of book, which makes its bracing dives into pathos and profundity all the more risky, and all the more stunningly rewarding.