Overview

Lamont's father was not a good man. And now Lamont's father is dead. When Lamont arrives in the tiny Appalachian town of Heaven, West Virginia, its lush landscape feels stubbornly at odds with the roiling anxiety that's come to define his inner life. Living there and learning the art of foraging and tea-making from his kind, stoic aunt LaToya should be idyllic—even a paradise. But in the shadows of Heaven's woods, Lamont sees a dark, hulking figure, long, glimmering teeth, and piercing red eyes. No one else seems to see this beast . . . not his aunt, and not the handsome cowboy, Coyote, whose gentle voice evokes the comforting, electric aroma of LaToya's brews. Escaping its voraciously hungry pursuit feels impossible, and Lamont will have to face more than the darkness of the woods to do so. A singular and seductive meditation on the complexity of grief, healing, and the power of the natural world by cartoonist Ravi Teixeira (A Quick & Easy Guide to Coming Out).

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9781637158746

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Reviews

""Heaven, West Virginia is a powerful graphic novel about grief and healing.""-- ""IGN"" ""Teixeira (A Quick and Easy Guide to Coming Out) combines folksy wisdom, queer romance, and a touch of horror into this affecting drama. Lamont, a young closeted gay man of color, returns to his rural hometown after the death of his father, a right-wing, fearmongering motivational speaker whose grim empire Lamont has no desire to inherit. Instead, he moves in with his kindly aunt Latoya, who raises chickens and brews herbal teas, and flirts with a blonde horseback-riding goat farmer named Coyote. But getting back to nature is hard for Lamont, who was raised to believe that ""basically everything in the forest wants to kill you."" His fears take the symbolic form of wolves that stalk him in the woods and in his room at night, and he comes to realize that if he wants to build a future, he can't run away from the past they represent. Teixeira's simple, chunky-lined art lays out scenes with the flattened perspective of murals or stained-glass windows. The darker passages are lightened by romance, whimsical scenes of nature, and illustrated recipes for Aunt Latoya's teas that use the fruits of the land. The result is an intimate and thoughtful tale about working up the courage to face one's fears. ""-- ""Publishers Weekly"" ""Lamont's complicated past and the ghost-wolf threat make the book engrossing from the start.""-- ""Foreword Reviews""

Author Information

Ravi Teixeira is a Cape Verdean American transgender cartoonist living abroad in Canada. Their work has been nominated for the prestigious GLAAD Awards. In 2019, their work was featured in the Prism Award winning DATES anthology, published by Margins. In 2024, Oni Press published their acclaimed graphic novel A QUICK AND EASY GUIDE TO COMING OUT and their work was featured in the BECOMING WHO WE ARE anthology (AWBW), which was recommended by the New York Times. Ravi Teixeira's comics tackles trans and gay sexuality and grief during tough times. They love cowboys, gothic horror, and telling stories about gay sex.

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