Description
A joyfully queer and stunningly romantic graphic novel inspired by the work of Jane Austen and perfect for fans of Heartstopper, Bloom and Lex Croucher.
George has always been in love with their best friend, Eleanor – and has always tried to ignore it.
Now Eleanor is coming of age and expected to marry a suitable man, it doesn’t matter how George feels – they have to let her go. Besides, George is busy avoiding their aunt’s matchmaking, taking over the failing family estate, and trying to keep their dressing in men’s clothes a secret.
Eleanor has always wanted to do everything ‘right,’ including falling in love – but she’s never met a boy she’s interested in. She’s more concerned with finding the perfect match for her cousin Charlotte, and working out why George is suddenly pulling away. But Eleanor’s friendships seem to be falling apart, and she’s beginning to realise that she likes George more than any man she’s met at a ball…
With a swoon-worthy friends-to-lovers romance, I Shall Never Fall in Love shines a light on what it means to be true to yourself and rewrites the rules of Happily Ever After.
Review
Inspired by Jane Austen, this queer romantic comedy graphic novel is a marvellous book.
Set in Regency England, Eleanor has been brought up to believe in the class system and marrying correctly. She has no trouble telling her coloured cousin Charlotte, who is being raised in her family home, just this. Together with their neighbour and best friend George, born Georgiana, we have the basis of our story.
George likes to dress in men’s clothes and is set to run the family estate, as they have a natural ability to make the estate work and an affinity with their tenant farmers. It takes time for George to call out Eleanor for her racist and class-based beliefs, but eventually they give Eleanor enough for her to rethink her views. The highlight is the ending when Charlotte is encouraged to follow her heart and, like the best Jane Austen stories, our protagonists realise that they are, of course, madly in love.
It is a terrific graphic novel, with a queer reworking of classic works in this graphic novel format proving to be totally absorbing. Best suited to readers 14 and above.
