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Gifts from The Morning Star
Passage of time examined
Unsettling sci-fi graphic novel on the transitoriness of life

Sandcastle
by Frederik Peeters and Pierre Oscar Levy
(Self-Made Hero, £14.99)

A SLOW zoom in to a cragged coast, a cave, a subaquatic tunnel leading into a mysterious inland beach. A dark-haired, bearded man in sandals appears from behind the rocks, yawns and packs away his sleeping bag into his rucksack.

He suddenly sees a young blonde girl undress down at the beach before getting into the water. He grabs his bag and escapes through the rocks.

So begins Sandcastle, the first graphic novel written by documentary film-maker Pierre Oscar Levy. It’s beautifully drawn by Frederick Peeters, an award-winning Swiss comic-book artist best known for his autobiographical graphic novel Blue Pills.

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