Tender Hardcover by Beth Hetland

Product Details

• Publisher: Fantagraphics (2024-03-12)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 162 pages
• ISBN-13: 9781683969358
• Item Weight: 567.0 grams
• Dimensions: 0.0 x 0.0 x 0.0 cm

A psychological thriller about a woman obsessed with her vision for a picture-perfect, curated life.

WINNER 2025 Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize

NPR Books We Love 2024

New York Public Library Best Comics for Adults 2024

Comic Book Herald Best Comics of 2024

WBEZ Chicago Best Reads of 2024

Harvey Awards Book of the Year 2024 NOMINEE

American Library Awards 2024 Best Graphic Novels for Adults Reading List

Bram Stoker Award NOMINEE 2024

Carolanne wanted a perfect wedding, a perfect husband, a perfect family. She carefully performs her own roles (gal pal, bestie, girlfriend, wife, and expectant mother) and in trying to enact agency over her life, sacrifices it completely. Her desire to control the uncontrollable ultimately becomes her undoing. When things don't go her way, she exerts dominance over the one thing she does have total control over: her body; until that "betrays" her. After suffering a horrible loss, Carolanne spirals into a literal, all-consuming delusion that will engross comics readers and horror aficionados alike.

Chicago cartoonist and educator Beth Hetland’s graphic novel debut is a brilliant psychological thriller that tears down the wall of a genre — body horror — so often identified with male creators. Heady and visceral, Tender uses horrific tropes to confront women’s societal expectations of self-sacrifice despite those traditional roles often coming at the expense of female sexuality and empowerment.

About the Author

Beth Hetland is a Professor, Adj. at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she teaches several comics and comics adjacent courses. She holds an MFA (2011) from The Center for Cartoon Studies and BFA (2009) from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.