Illustrations: Kate Beaton
HENRY BELL is fascinated by the underlying curiosities and contradictions of one of the great poets of the Mediterranean
DAVID RENTON recommends a books that explores the ways in which disabled people are made to feel both of and not part of this world
JONATHAN TAYLOR is fascinated by the philosophical problems that permeate the art of life-writing
GORDON PARSONS steps warily in between the lines of Britain’s most famous diarist
SIMON DUFF recommends a recording of Arvo Part that takes the listener on a pilgrimage through seemingly distant times and events of the Bible
Ducks — Two Years in the Oil Sands
by Kate Beaton
Jonathon Cape £25
KATE BEATON is a Canadian writer and cartoonist. The book, Ducks — Two Years in the Oil Sands, is her first full-length graphic narrative, a memoir dramatically played out in cartoon format.
Beaton comes from Cape Breton on Canada’s East Coast, an area where the major industries, oil and fishing, went into sharp decline and as a consequence, local people had to seek employment elsewhere.
Star cartoonist MALC MCGOOKIN finds lessons for today in the punch, and the economy of line, of an extraordinary generation of illustrators
