Through the Woods

Beautiful, beguiling and thrillingly eerie.

Stunning, magical. Hauntingly gothic, it made me feel like a child again, reading Grimm fairy tales.

Mesmerizes and inspires; a Victorian gothic playground haunted by Mary Shelley & Edward Gorey, awash in the dream-like haze of Odilon Redon, and composed with the poetic elegance of Ukiyo-e. I loved it.

'A wonderful new collection by the Canadian comic artist and writer Emily Carroll. As Craig Thompson (Blankets, Habibi) has already pointed out, Carroll's talent is immense: the mood of these stories is Brothers Grimm by way of Patricia Highsmith or Stephen King, while her drawings, so fluidly lavish and atmospheric, seem to channel Edward Gorey.'

'A graphic debut that blends the gothic strangeness of Tim Burton with the macabre illustrations of Edward Gorey to create a wonderfully chilling collection of tales ... Eschewing neat endings, Carroll leaves lingering questions: how much is real and how much is imagination? ... Her eerie tales will haunt you.'

'The gothic tradition is alive, or perhaps splendidly undead, in Emily Carroll's chilling period folktales Through the Woods. Particularly effective is how Carroll insinuates her handwritten narration within her elegant page designs ... Carroll knows when to shock on the turn of a page and when to leave her horrors lurking.'