Inspired by Italo Calvino, Jeanette Winterson,
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
, and the
Uncanny X-Men
, this surreal, darkly beautiful, and unsettling graphic novel about five wounded orphans is by turns hilarious and horrific, grotesque and tender
On an unnaturally dark night, an unnaturally black dog took a baby from its cradle. Behave, child, or the same might happen to you!
In a cruel and arbitrary world, where disturbing lapses in logic are commonplace, five orphans must face their traumatic origins. Gabriella is a crippled angel, haunted by her inability to interpret prophecies. Cur is the rabid leader of a sect of dogs, desperate to escape his inheritance. Cuckoo is a gambler with a wax face determined to find a fixed identity before his luck runs out. Magpie is a thief in search of the perfect photographic subject, but terrified of going blind. Crow is a leper trying to distill the essence of death as an antidote to dying. Each of them is deformed; each has a special ability; each is connected to all of the others. And each gets exactly what they deserve—or do they? This sumptuous, densely layered medieval-style illuminated novel features richly illustrated endpapers, a midsection of plates on vellum finish, and a red ribbon bookmark.