Embroidered Cancer Comic

It’s a sweet wee graphic novel, this. A very simple idea – and gesture – coming from a real place; a real pain. Shefrin’s husband was diagnosed with cancer and the pair had made several ‘jokes’ – to keep themselves sane and as happy as possible. There were changes to their life, due to the diagnosis and treatments. This short graphic novel is a diary of sorts and is most likely to find its ideal audience as a comforter of sorts, a document from people who have lived through this sort of life-upending medical drama.

The title is prosaic at best and the images a little shaky at times, the writing is clear-headed and poignant and though it seems to stop just as it’s getting going all of that can be forgiven, not just because this was created in response to a real life uncertainty but also because the book is, as our title does at least explain, made up of a set of embroidered panels. Shefrin had always wanted to have a go at a comic and had illustrated children’s books but here she takes her other artistic skill – embroidery. So here are some 60 hand-stitched panels compiled to tell their story.

To read a bit more about the book and the process of making it – a three-year project – click here. There are links there too to support networks and other reviews of the book as well as to contacting the author and making purchases.