Faint of Heart

Wilson, Kerilynn

In a debut teen graphic novel that is part Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and part Severance, a high school student must figure out how to exist in a world where she is the only one left with a heart—and whether she wants to keep hers at all. The Faint of Heart is a vivid, ethereal, and haunting novel for readers of ND Stevenson’s Nimona and Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki’s This One Summer. 

Not that long ago, the Scientist discovered that all sadness, anxiety, and anger disappeared when you removed your heart. And that's all it took. Soon enough, the hospital had lines out the door. 

June is an exceptional high schooler, though not in the way you’d expect. She is the only one in town who still has her heart. When she looks at her heartless family and friends, she knows she can’t become one of them. But the pressure, loneliness, and heartache are mounting, and it’s becoming harder and harder to be the only one with a heart. And then June comes across an abandoned heart in a jar. 

The heart in the jar intrigues her, it baffles her, and it brings her hope. June wonders if the heart can be used to revitalize her sister. But the heart also brings her Max, a classmate with a secret of his own: though he had his heart removed, he is starting to feel again. And it hurts.

June will have to choose between a boy she barely knows—a boy who’s in pain—and the sister she loves dearly—who feels nothing. But will her own heart rip in two in the process?

Kerilynn Wilson’s debut graphic novel is part speculative fiction and part cautionary tale. Her finely realized, extraordinary illustrations create a rich world ripe for exploration. Her use of color—or lack thereof—emphasizes June’s isolation and emotions in an emotionless society. The Faint of Heart is a moving and striking graphic novel that explores the complex emotional themes that often mark the adolescent years.