The Cliff by Manon Debaye

A budding friendship between two misfits unravels in the wake of school
violence
Schoolyard outcasts Charlie and Astrid meet up after school near a cliff at the
edge of the woods surrounding their sleepy town. They make a blood pact to
jump together in five days time, before their thirteenth birthdays. Not that
navigating the unspoken pecking order of the school quad makes it easy. Can
the intensity of their bond survive the scrutiny of their peers, or will it crumble
under the sum of each other's disappointments?
Manon Debaye's characters live in a world just on the periphery of adult
supervision, where kids prey upon one another with casual aplomb only to find
themselves completely out of their depth. A deft use of colored pencils brings
sleepy but barren suburban landscapes to the fore, further capturing
childhood's last pivotal moments as it teeters on the edge of adolescence
withstartling honesty in this devastatingly well-crafted debut.
Winner of the 2023 Philippe Druillet Prize at Angouleme, The Cliff is a moody,
visceral glimpse into pre-teen life, unflinching in its portrayal of trivialized
cruelties alongside simple joys.

Manon Debaye is an illustrator and cartoonist whose work has appeared in
The New York Times, Zadig, Biscoto, and Zeit Wissen. Debaye is also the cofounder of the small press collective Mokki. This is her first graphic novel.

Drawn & Quarterly
On Sale: Nov 7/23
8.5 x 11 • 160 pages
Full-color illustrations throughout
9781770466944 • $34.95 • cl
Comics & Graphic Novels / Literary