Jon McNaught’s work will already be familiar to a lot of our readers due to the fantastic illustrations he did for our book, On Nature. Today, sees the publication of his own (third) book, Dockwood, a graphic novel (or a picture-poem, perhaps), published by Nobrow Press. It’s a really beautiful thing. Keenly observed, brilliantly drawn and incredibly warm. We know how hard he has worked to create this book and we congratulate him on the result. We plan to run extracts throughout the week, starting here, now, today.
Dockwood is on sale in the Caught by the River shop, priced £13.
Publishers notes:
Dockwood is a small town in South East England, population 26,000. It is home to a bowling alley, a boating lake and Willowbrook Outlet Village.
It’s a cloudy Tuesday in October and the residents of the town are going about their business as usual. In Elmsview Nursing Home, a kitchen porter dutifully prepares lunch for residents. Elsewhere, a council worker sweeps the fallen leaves from the pavements. Along Nettlefield Road, a paperboy is delivering his daily round. And in the trees, swallows gather noisily in preparation for their annual migration.
In this new work, Jon McNaught weaves together the everyday lives of three locals against an evocative backdrop of autumnal transitions. Bittersweet and contemplative, Dockwood is for anyone who believes the stories that take place within life’s small moments can often be the most meaningful of all.