Ethel & Ernest

Description: A marvellous, life-enhancing book for all ages, now a major animated film starring Jim Broadbent, Brenda Blethyn and Luke Treadaway Utterly original, deeply moving and very funny, Ethel & Ernest tells the story of Raymond Briggs' parents' marriage, lady's maid Ethel and milkman Ernest, from their first chance encounter in 1928, through the birth of their son Raymond in 1934, to their deaths, within months of each other, in 1971. Told in Brigg`s unique strip-cartoon format, Ethel and Ernest live through the defining moments of the twentieth century: the darkness of the Great Depression, the build up to World War II, the trials of the war years, the euphoria of VE Day and the emergence of a generation from post war austerity to the cultural enlightenment of the 1960s. Ethel & Ernest is a heartfelt and affectionate tribute to an ordinary couple and an extraordinary generation.

Review: "Briggs has always had the ability to move his readers, but never more powerfully than this." -- Stephen Pritchard * Guardian * "As our memory of pre-Niketown Britain fades, we should be grateful that Raymond Briggs is so brilliantly equipped to remind us of what we used to be, and why." -- Nick Hornby * New York Times * "Ethel & Ernest imparts, as the best novels do, the sense of lived lives. It's not too much to say you come to love these people... Briggs' book earns our tears. Ethel & Ernest is a just about perfect miniature: small in scale, not in spirit." -- Charles Taylor * Salon *


Author Biography: Raymond Briggs is one of our most respected and beloved artists. Born in Wimbledon Park in 1934, he studied at the Wimbledon School of Art and later at the Slade School of Fine Art, and went on to produce a treasure trove of work. He has created characters that are now icons for generations of children, including Fungus the Bogeyman, Father Christmas and, of course, the beloved Snowman. The biography of his parents in graphic novel form, Ethel & Ernest, became a bestseller in the UK, and an animated feature film based on the novel will be released in 2016.He has won many awards over his career including the Kurt Maschler Award, The Children's Book of the Year, Dutch Silver Pen Award, and the prestigious Kate Greenaway Award twice for his Mother Goose Nursery Treasury and Father Christmas. Raymond lives in Sussex.