Irmina #[nn]

Barbara Yelin's Irmina, published by Actes Sud in 2014, arrives with a cover as quietly striking as anything in European graphic literature. The artwork — entirely Yelin's own — presents a sun-dappled upper half where a young woman and a man share a bicycle ride past what appears to be an English cathedral town, rendered in delicate watercolor washes, while the lower half mirrors that scene in a dark, inverted reflection of shadowy urban architecture, hinting at a world turned upside down. It's a beautifully composed image that balances warmth and unease with real confidence.