Review by Win Wiacek

Remember the rush of wonderment that came from visiting somewhere new and exotic? Do you even remember going for an aimless walk? If not, why not do it in your head? Here’s a brilliant aide-memoire that’s timelessly entertaining and potently evocative.

A superb example of broadening of strip horizons is globe-girdling cartooning diarist and epicure Lucy Knisley, who has made a career out of documenting her life as it happens, detailing her experiences and fascinations in an engaging and entertaining manner. This beguiling slice of graphic verité was first seen in 2014 and details a European working vacation that became a bittersweet lovers’ tryst.

The voyage begins in 2011 when the cat-loving cartoonist was an invited guest at Norway’s Raptus Comics Festival. After some understandable dithering and consultation with pals and fellow pros the author warily agrees, intending to turn the proposed work jolly into the start of an extended visit to friends in Germany and vacationing family in France. As the time nears the daunting plans all come miraculously together and Lucy prepares herself by immersing in personal Scandinavian-ness: researching the family history of her Swedish grandparents.

Events obtain a sharper edge in New York in the months immediately preceding the trip as she meets visiting Henrik. He’s a most fanciable lad and she agrees to visit his Stockholm home after the Raptus convention. With her six-venue itinerary sorted, all that’s left is for the journey to begin.

Packed with intimate detail and engaging introspection, rendered in clean, clear compelling black line – augmented by occasional bursts of painterly watercolour illustration – this is a fabulously absorbing jaunt with a most delightful and forthright travel companion. Knisley unstintingly shares her thoughts, feeling and experiences in a manner guaranteed to win over, especially as she garnishes her slivers of new experience with her trademark adventures and observations through the welcoming lens of regional foods made, consumed and enjoyed.

Through work, relaxation, the hazy indolence of a love affair and its gradual ending, a phrase she heard in the French winemaking region of Beaune comes to haunt her. L’Age license – a time of freedom for youth to try, fail, experiment and learn – fascinates and captivates her as she spends much of her time in France and beyond, searching for its truth, origins and meaning.

Exceedingly funny, sweet, disarmingly incisive, heartwarming, uncompromising and utterly enchanting, this moving memoir is a comics experience unlike any other and fans of travel, storytelling and a life well-lived will adore the open, sharing experience it vicariously offers.