Lika Nüssli

Lika Nüssli
Starkes Ding

Urgent and with a great pull, Lika Nüssli‘s linguistically complex and visually powerful graphic novel draws the reader right into the middle of a dark chapter of Swiss social history: the Verding children. It is a story of her own father, who in 1949, as a 12-year-old, had to slave for one franc a day with a strange farmer. A story of violence and abuse, but also of quiet humour and flashes of happiness. Lika Nüssli succeeds in bringing a bygone rural world with its customs and language to life, borrowing from traditional paintings of pastoral scenes. With virtuosity, she weaves text and images into a narrative with strong resonance: the story of the Verding children is far from finished.

Starkes Ding

Edition Moderne, Zürich
ISBN 978-3-03731-227-8

Translation rights: Sarah Lapalu, Eddy-Agency, sarah@eddy-agency.com

Photos: BAK / Julien Chavaillaz