Award-winning cartoonist Tillie Walden will discuss her latest graphic novel, a beautifully researched true story of an openly Lesbian couple who survived and thrived in 19th century Vermont.

"Impeccably researched, beautifully drawn and written, this graphic biography of an openly lesbian couple in early 1800s Vermont is a deeply moving glimpse at our country's early queer history." - Northshire Bookstore Director of Events Rachel Person

The month is February in the year 1807. The place is Weybridge, Vermont: small, cold, lonely, and beautiful. Sylvia Drake is exhausted. As an unwed woman with few prospects, she is residing with and caring for her sister’s rambunctious family. Today the house is abuzz awaiting a guest—Charity Bryant. A friend of the family, she is most known for her elegant letters, with their swoopy and evocative penmanship and carefully chosen prose. But Charity’s visit is a guise, she is coming to Vermont to start over after heartbreak and rumours—so many rumours—that have grown too loud back in Massachusetts.

Being openly gay in 19th century New England is not an easy row to hoe. But Charity can only be herself, and she immediately catches—and holds—the eye of none other than Sylvia Drake. From this point on, for 44 years, the two would be inseparable, building a life together despite all odds and living as a lesbian couple in small town Vermont.

“In Charity and Sylvia, the preternaturally gifted Tillie Walden surpasses herself.” - Alison Bechdel

“A moving historical epic and a story of love, all told in kitchens, bedrooms, sewing parlors. As we ask ourselves how we might survive now, this mostly true love story almost as old as the state, full of what we love about the queer women who lived then, describing how they found their love and how they worked to keep it and each other safe, well, this is not just a book but a rock in a storm, and with answers." —Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobigraphical Novel

TILLIE WALDEN is a cartoonist and illustrator from Austin, Texas. She is the creator of a number of award-winning graphic novels including On a Sunbeam, Spinning, and the Walking Dead’s Clementine Trilogy. She is a graduate of the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont where she now teaches and lives with her wife and son.