BOOKS
BY ERICA GILLINGHAM
Book of the Month
GRAPHIC MEMOIR SENSIBLE FOOTWEAR: A GIRL’S GUIDE Kate Charlesworth
Kate Charlesworth succeeds in finducing a cheeky smile with the title of her graphic memoir, Sensible Footwear, but it’s so much more than a lesbian in-joke; the book is a chronicle of an incredible life interwoven with the monumental changes the LGBTQI community has borne over the past 70 years. A cartoonist and self-proclaimed “dyke about town”, Charlesworth depicts different stages of her life from childhood to coming out, to her flourishing adulthood. Interspersed with the personal, she includes colourful spreads of the political: major moments of history retold in five-year increments from 1950-2019, often highlighting lesser-known British figures along the way. Not since Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home has there been such an important graphic memoir – especially for younger generations. A striking and heart-warming achievement in comic form, Sensible Footwear should be on everyone’s bookshelves.