The Garden of Inside-Outside

Inspired by the author’s childhood, this junior graphic novel is a beautiful evocation of an unexpected friendship between a girl and a boy, on either side of war and peace.

In the summer of 1981, Chiara and her family join their father in Tehran. He has been made Italian ambassador to Iran, and their home is a palace with a wild walled garden where princes and princesses used to live.

Inside the garden walls, there are pomegranate trees, tall grasses hiding all kinds of insects, and a pond with a carp that is one hundred years old. Outside, where the city monster breathes darkly, there are bombs and soldiers with heavy boots and big beards.

One day, a boy called Massoud climbs over the wall and makes friends with Chiara. They don’t speak the same language, but together they invent the kingdoms of Outside-Inside and Inside-Outside. Is their secret safe, though?

 

Watch a short video presentation by its English publisher

Watch a video interview of the author

Wath a video interview of the illustrator

 

* nominated for the Kate Greenaway medal 2021
* PRIX SORCIÈRES 2018, Catégorie Carrément beau Maxi

 

By the same illustrator, in the same format:

Fechamos, we're closing

The Silk Dress