Cyril Pedrosa

Can you ever escape your fate? Three shadows stand outside the house - and Louis and Lise know why the spectral figures are there. The shadows have come for Louis and Lise's son, and nothing anyone can do will stop them. Louis cannot let his son die without trying to prevent it, so the family embarks on a journey to the ends of the earth, fleeing death. Poignant and suspenseful, Three Shadows is a haunting story of love and grief, told in moving text and sweeping black and white artwork by Cyril Pedrosa.

Three Shadows

Sarah Sammis

Published in 2007 as Trois Ombres and translated into English in 2008, Cyril Pedrosa's graphic novel was inspired by the feelings of grief and hopelessness he after the death of a close friends' child. The translation was nominated for a Cybil in the young adult graphic novel category and it won a Reuben in the "comic book" division.

Life is simple on the farm for Joachim and his parents. It's a blissful existence dictated by the seasons and the chores on the farm. But everything changes when the three shadows show up on the hill at the edge of the farm. Rather than face the threat head on, the father and son decide to flee the shadows, leaving behind the grieving and worried mother.

Cyril Pedrosa excels at creating mood and suspense in his artwork. The shadows are at times eerie, threatening, dangerous and scary. He also captures the joy of a family at play. Sometimes though the moods jump to quickly for me. After a few times of being ping ponged between JOY and DREAD I stop caring.

As a mother of two children who has also suffered the loss of two others through miscarriages, I have a personal connection to that feeling of life being simpler before an unexpected and unwanted loss. No one wants a child to die but that's unfortunately part of life. By keeping the cause Joachim's death tied to the will of the three shadows it remains unreal. I kept wondering if the father's fear of the unknown caused that what he feared most: the death of his son. In "protecting" his son he ends up dragging him all across the countryside, onto a ship, through storms and so forth, putting him at unnecessary risks. They both nearly die in the middle of a snow storm and of course ultimately the three shadows get who they came for.

How different would things have been if they had confronted the shadows at the very beginning? Would they have given a reason for his early death? Would he have lived a comfortable few more weeks with the mother and father who loved him instead of being dragged through the unknown? Here's where I have the most trouble with the graphic novel: parents trying to protect their child from the harsh reality of life and death only to make the whole experience scarier and more painful!

Nelson Zagalo

A masterpiece. For the story in its qualities of rhythm and subtlety. For the drawing in its qualities of contrast and dynamic. Storytelling emerges from that perfect mixture between message and presentation, transporting the reader into another world. The engagement is complete.

Jessica Nottingham

I picked this up on a whim, while wandering the library last week. There's nothing I love more than to peek at what they've added to the graphic novel section under "library favorites". Someone out there wanted me to read this, and I happily obliged! Especially once I opened it to take a cursory glance at the first page. Three Shadows both looked, and sounded, like something I needed to take home with me. So, I did.
 
This is the story of Joachim, an adorable bundle of excitement and youth. The reader is introduced to his little family unit and the safe haven they call home. Full of fish to catch, berries to pick, and any number of adventures a young boy might want to have. I took instantly to Joachim and his family. They were so happy. So very peaceful. Then, as the synopsis promised, the shadows appeared. Suddenly this little family was afraid, and on the brink of breaking. I can assure you, this isn't always the happiest of stories. It is, however, a beautiful one.
 
What sold me on this book, more than anything else, was the illustrations. Three Shadows is done in a style that is very sketch-book in nature. Stark white and black, but with so much movement that it's not hard at all to follow along. I actually appreciated the lack of color in these panels. It allowed me the opportunity to bring my own color to the story. To paint in the joy, the innocence, and even the heartbreak. It was a daring move on the part of the illustrator, since so many graphic novels are richly colored, but it is well suited to this particular story.
 
I can't say much more without spoiling anything. This is a story of love, loss, and the great lengths that people will go to in order to protect the ones that mean the most. I don't know what I was expecting when I first picked this up, but I can assure you that it lived up to whatever that was. This wasn't my favorite graphic novel of the year, but it's definitely up there. Recommended to all.

Three Shadows

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