Our Little Secret

by Emily Carrington

Overview

Winner of the 2023 Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize

At 15, Emily is a relatively typical teenage girl living in the Maritimes. She lives with her eccentric dad as he prepares to build a log cabin. She rides her beloved horse and spends all her free time taking in the fresh air. But things aren’t perfect, the winters are harsh and her dad’s place is cold and draughty. Enter their neighbour who sees a girl in need and offers to lend a hand. Three words: “OUR LITTLE SECRET," and Emily's fate is sealed.

Twenty five years later, Emily is adrift and depressed when she spots her neighbour again on a ferry. The events of that long-ago winter come rushing back, and she is forced to reckon with the past anew. She vows that she will bring him to justice, tell her secret, and come to terms with the wounds that defined so many years of her life. Inept lawyers, expensive therapy, and a broken justice system block Emily’s path to peace. Only when she rediscovers her youthful artistic talent by putting pen to paper does she see a way out.

Now in her fifties, Carrington has crafted a compulsively readable debut that shows a powerful command of the comics medium. Our Little Secret is a testament to survival and to the importance of telling your story your way.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781770465466
Publisher:	Drawn & Quarterly
Publication date:	03/15/2022
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	1,066,984
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

Editorial Reviews

11/29/2021

In a weighty debut graphic memoir rife with visual metaphors, Carrington documents an adolescence marked by sexual abuse and an adulthood consumed by thwarted attempts to heal. Following her parents’ separation, Carrington lived in deep rural poverty with her rage-prone father on Prince Edward Island. Her father’s friend and neighbor, Richard, offered kindness and electricity: “He had a chance to be a hero.” Also, he groomed and raped her. Line drawings, with deceptively simple character designs, depict a life fraught with dangerous omens, carried in metaphorical and real images: flies that lurk in the cracks of a cabin, a wolf catching a fawn in its teeth, a plane that circles but never lands. Carrington doesn’t fully process the events until 27 years later when she spots Richard on a ferry. She pursues legal action only to run into against Canada’s statute of limitations and is plagued by debt, which fueled by bills from an incompetent lawyer. Studying the hero’s journey in a comics class, she wonders when it will be time for her triumphant return. In depicting her abuse and the aftermath with rawness, realism, and a dreamlike final act—in which “Lady Justice” is a temp who’s late to pick up her child from day care—Carrington has done a service to all who navigate trauma without tidy endings. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

In depicting her abuse and the aftermath with rawness, realism, and a dreamlike final act—in which 'Lady Justice' is a temp who’s late to pick up her child from day care—Carrington has done a service to all who navigate trauma without tidy endings.” —Publishers Weekly

“Carrington is a terrific storyteller, even if her muse is her deep deep pain. I found myself cheering for her, turning page after page of this graphic memoir hoping that it would get better, that she would get justice or revenge or both.” —Newcity Lit

“Readers who have no first-hand experience with such ordeals will find her account heartbreaking and illuminating; those who find it familiar will — hopefully — feel less alone.” —The Stranger

“Seeing Carrington conceptualize a way out that was not available to her childhood self is immensely valuable for all readers, particularly survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Hopefully, this book gets into the hands of anyone who needs it.” —Quill and Quire

“Our Little Secret handles her dark experience with frankness, yet her book leaves the reader with hope that healing is possible.” —Zoomer

From the Publisher