Room for Love

by ILYA

Overview

“Romance is dead.” Or so says Pamela Green, a middle-aged romance novelist suffering from writer’s block. Then, as she crosses a bridge over the Thames in London, her unsettled life collides with that of a ragged young man who has survived for months on London’s streets, getting by on his wits . . . and his looks. Under extraordinary circumstances, Pamela invites him into her comfortable suburban home. There, in spite of their obvious differences, they soon form an unlikely partnership, their once-separate lives revived and sent off in stark new directions. An intense hothouse drama, fierce and true to life, Room for Love is an original graphic novel unafraid to play with fire.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781906838720
Publisher:	SelfMadeHero
Publication date:	04/07/2015
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

ILYA is a comic-book writer and artist whose work has been published by Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and Dark Horse in the US; Kodansha in Japan; and numerous independent companies worldwide. His books include the award-winning The End of the Century Club, the kitchen-sink-drama collection Skidmarks, and an adaptation of King Lear in the Manga Shakespeare series. ILYA lives in the UK.

Editorial Reviews

★ 04/13/2015
Middle-aged London-based romance author Pamela Greene endures crushing loneliness and a bad case of writer’s block as her editor breathes down her neck for her next novel. Inspiration arrives in the form of Cougar, a seventeen-year-old Irish drifter whom she takes pity on and allows to move into her apartment’s spare room. A sexual relationship spontaneously commences. But unlike the fantasies she crafts on the page, Pamela’s affair with the young male prostitute involves neither romance nor love, instead leading her to delve into her houseguest’s dysfunctional past while confronting her own state of emotional emptiness. Cartoonist Ilya (The End of the Century Club) approaches this graphic novel with realism that derails standard romantic tropes from its first page, conveying the characters’ melancholy mundanity with a sparse style that is a perfect complement to the script. Adult, honest, and uncomfortable, this is a graphic novel that treats its audience as intelligent residents of a world where dreams and fantasies seldom come true. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Set against the world of romance publishing, ILYA’S approach to the topic cleverly subverts our expectations of romantic fiction.

Booklist

With ILYA’s clever color scheme and quietly poignant artwork driving the tale, Room for Love is a markedly original work, with questions of identity and intimacy woven into the penumbra of a raw and authentic relationship.

The Boston Globe

Adult, honest, and uncomfortable, this is a graphic novel that treats its audience as intelligent residents of a world where dreams and fantasies seldom come true.”—Publishers Weekly

“Set against the world of romance publishing, ILYA’S approach to the topic cleverly subverts our expectations of romantic fiction.”—Booklist

“With ILYA’s clever color scheme and quietly poignant artwork driving the tale, Room for Love is a markedly original work, with questions of identity and intimacy woven into the penumbra of a raw and authentic relationship.”—The Boston Globe

From the Publisher

Set against the world of romance publishing, ILYA’S approach to the topic cleverly subverts our expectations of romantic fiction.

Booklist