A Thousand Coloured Castles

"Elderly Myriam lives a quiet suburban life with her curmudgeonly husband until she starts seeing strangler vines sprouting from her television and faceless soldiers wearing ladders for hats marching down her street. Writer/illustrator Gareth Brookes’ crayon drawings depict Myriam’s world as it goes feathery at the edges, while his ear for dialogue (husband Fred keeps up a continous stream of mundane observations: “Right. Half-past-ten. Think I’ll try for a poop.”) nestles us squarely in the everyday. As this sad, slyly surreal book proceeds, neither Myriam nor the reader can be certain what is real, and what is very, very not."