Description
Sometimes, the simplest stories are the best... This is a lovely, tender book... Stan and Nan are all of our grandparents, their stability and infinite kindness much mourned as our ever-changing worlds spin frantically on.'
Rachel Cooke, Observer
My nan wrote me many letters back in 2011. They were about the love of her life, my grandad, Stanley Burndred. I've never met him, he died long before I was born, but his drawings, paintings and ceramics have been in my life for as long as I can remember. Every wall of Nan's house would be decorated by his artworks and every windowsill bore his ceramic creations. Whenever we visited Nan in the Black Country I would study the ornaments and pictures, wondering who had made them. It wasn't until I wrote to Nan many years later, receiving in return beautiful handwritten letters detailing his life, that it became apparent that the work was his.
The letters were so beautiful I felt my nan's story had to be told. Stan and Nan is the story of an ordinary couple and the people who loved them. The narrative follows their lives from Stan's working-class background, to his premature death, through to Nan's struggle to cope, and the perils of ageing. It is a memoir about the importance of family, and about death, love, living and human connection.
A graphic memoir to place beside Raymond Briggs' bestselling Ethel & Ernest
About the Author
Sarah Lippett is a London-based artist and author. Her first graphic novel, Stan and Nan, was awarded the Quentin Blake prize for best narrative at the Royal College of Art and was published by Jonathan Cape in 2016, becoming an Observer book of the year. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, and Time Out. When she's not drawing or writing, she plays bass in the band Fever Dream.
Reviews
Lippett serves up a little slice of social history, and it's this that makes her book so rich and touching... This is a lovely, tender book... Her story brims with love. -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *
Both an intricate piece of superbly executed and charming illustration work and an exploration of ideas around shared memory and storytelling. -- Emily Gosling * It's Nice That *
A tale of grandparents and northern families that made me weep for all the right reasons... I bloody loved Stan and Nan. It made me smile, it made me cry (happy and sad tears), it made me think and remember. It just did all those wonderful things that the best books can... So if you can get your mitts on it, it is a real joy to spend your time with, I will be reading it again and again. -- Simon Savidge * Savidge Reads *
Book Information
ISBN 9780224102537
Author Sarah Lippett
Format Hardback
Page Count 96
Imprint Jonathan Cape Ltd
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 626g
Dimensions(mm) 269mm * 212mm * 16mm
