The Crystal Vase

Rich, moving and wryly funny… Goldsmith’s portrait of her extended family, a squabbling bunch of eccentrics, brilliant and hopeless in equal measure, is a delight…. readers of this book – [will be] be richly rewarded. – Killian Fox * Observer Graphic Novel of the Month *Multiple storylines and time periods… all fits together with the satisfaction of a complicated jigsaw puzzle… [A] moving memoir…[where] history is made tangible * Financial Times *Hilarious, moving and brilliantly told, The Crystal Vase is a new high water mark graphic memoir. A fascinating investigation into generational trauma, a poetic riff on the nature of truth, a beautifully observed poem about how love gets passed down…and above all, just incredibly funny. This is a new masterpiece of comics. – Stephen Collins, author of THE GIGANTIC BEARD THAT WAS EVILBrilliant, witty and endlessly inventive – an intimate family portrait of astonishing historical reach. It’s warm, humane, complex and with a cumulative emotional power that floored me. – Joe Dunthorne, author of SUBMARINEThe Crystal Vase is totally absorbing and as fascinating historically as it is beautifully sympathetic to knotty family dynamics. The moth-eaten rug situation sent me insane with exasperation. – Lizzy Stewart, author of ALISONAn utterly beautifully made graphic memoir about the author being dispatched by her family to sort out the belongings of her formidable and recently deceased German Jewish grandmother. There is all sorts in it, including a flight from Nazi Germany, petty squabbles within a grieving family, disagreements on funeral rites, road trips and transnational moths. It could easily be mawkish but it isn’t one jot which gets a personal thumbs up from me. It’s moving, gripping and is, at times, very, very funny. – Mike Wozniak * RTÉ *

Astrid Goldsmith (@mockduckstudios) is an award-winning stop-motion animator and writer who lives in Folkestone, England. Her graphic short story, ‘A Funeral in Freiburg’ was selected as the winner of the 2021 Observer/Jonathan Cape prize by a panel of judges including Alison Bechdel. Her upcoming debut graphic novel, The Crystal Vase, is based on this short story. She is a writer for animated TV series and is a regular Visiting Lecturer at several universities.

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