Derborence

We also have Alps in Slovenia. They are not Swiss, but they are very beautiful all the same. This was one aspect of the story that appealed to me. But these mighty mountains can be scary, too. Mountains are beautiful and breathtaking, but we should not underestimate them.

In the small Swiss village, most men go to the mountains and spend three months there. Only women, children and older men stay behind in the village. After a landslide, men do not return. All assume they are dead and believe evil spirits from the mountains took them. Many women remain without husbands, and even many more children are now without fathers.

Derborence is an adaptation of the novel When the Mountain Fell by the Swiss writer Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz. I didn’t read the novel prior to this reading.

Derborence is a quick read, and the illustrations are very good. I like graphic novels that can say a lot with few words ...that capture emotions and the atmosphere of the story in a way that not many words are needed. Here, many things were said without words.

 

Goodreads

Details:

• author: Fabian Menor, Charles Ferdinand Ramuz (Original author), Michelle Bailat-Jones (Translated by)
  
• full title: Derborence: When the Mountain Fell
  
• genre: graphic novel
  
• topics: #mountains, #accident, #romance
  
• publisher: Helvetiq
• publish date: April 18, 2023
  
• pages: 128
  
  

My Rating of the Book:

• content: 💙💙💙💙
• illustrations: 💙💙💙💙.5
  

About the Author: 

Born in 1997, Fabian Menor is an illustrator, graphic novel author, and designer. He received a degree from Geneva's École supérieure de bande-dessinée et d'illustration (Graphic Arts and Illustration Institute). His comic Elise (2020) received significant critical success. He lives in Geneva, Switzerland.

Michelle Bailat-Jones is a translator and novelist living in Switzerland. She has translated several short stories as well as two novels by C. F. Ramuz, Beauty on Earth and What if the Sun...? Her other translations include work by Clarisse Francillon, Claude Cahun, Julia Allard Daudet, Laure Mi-Hyun Croset, and Céline Cerny.

C.F. Ramuz was a French-speaking Swiss writer. Born in Lausanne and educated there he moved to Paris in 1903 where he first published a collection of poems, 'Le petit village.' At the outbreak of WWI in 1914 he returned to Switzerland and devoted his life to writing which included the libretto for Igor Stravinsky's 'Histoire du Soldat' in 1918. He died near his home town. His image now appears on the 200 Swiss Franc note and his foundation awards the quintannual Grand Prix C.F. Ramuz.

Sample pages: