Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir
PUBLICATION DATE: July 2025
7” X 8.65”
272 PAGES
TRADE PAPERBACK
ISBN: : 9781951491406
EBOOK ISBN:
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List Price
US $23.99
What People Are Saying
Starred Review from Publishers Weekly, “A masterpiece—and a luminous tribute to a brief, beautiful life.”
"One of the most important graphic novels of our time. A masterpiece.” —Tillie Walden, author of On a Sunbeam
“Rosalie Lightning is more than a book. It's a breathing testament to life and love. Tom Hart has gifted us a guidebook for grief that pushes through the darkness and pain to the most beautiful and transcendent. This book is necessary for the universe!”—Craig Thompson, author of the award-winning graphic memoir Blankets
“This gripping dystopian narrative holds up a mirror to our present, asking urgent questions about surveillance, control, and the fragility of democracy. I sincerely hope it is not a future we are moving towards.” —Prof. Joel Christian Gill, author of Stamped from the Beginning: A Graphic History of Racist Ideas in America
“Reading Rosalie Lightning is like standing at the edge of an abyss and watching someone construct a gleaming titanium bridge by sheer, overwhelming force of love.” —Lauren Groff, author of Fates and Furies
“A searing read.”—The Boston Globe
Synopsis
A new updated paperback edition of the #1 New York Times bestselling graphic memoir about a father dealing with the sudden death of his young daughter.
Tom Hart's two-year-old daughter Rosalie was a bundle of energy: always running, exploring, and fascinated by the world around her.
But one night, when Tom went to check on her in her crib, he found her silent, still, and unbreathing. Without a sign that anything had been wrong, she had passed away in her sleep.
This touching and beautiful graphic novel memoir tells the heartbreaking story of the untimely death of the author's young daughter, and the solace that Hart finds in nature, philosophy, literature, and art. Rosalie Lightning is a graphic masterpiece chronicling a father's undying love, and a tribute to much-missed baby girl.
This new high quality paperback edition of a beloved classic features a new foreword from bestselling author Lucy Knisley, along with a letter from Tom Hart giving a view into the role the book has played in his grief process, and how he has found a way forward into life.
About the Author
Tom Hart is a critically acclaimed Eisner-nominated cartoonist and the Executive Director of The Sequential Artists Workshop in Gainesville, Florida. He is the creator of Daddy Lightning and the Hutch Owen series of graphic novels and books. The Collected Hutch Owen was nominated for best graphic novel in 2000 and has received a Xeric Grant. Tom has taught sequential art at the University of Florida and at NYC's School of Visual Arts.
