In this tender and loving tribute to his parents, Raymond Briggs has created a mini masterpiece of subtle expression and real beauty. I've been a long-time fan of his work with delights such as Fungus the Bogeyman, When the Wind Blows, his Father Christmas books, etc., but this one just caught me by the heart.

The graphic novelette (only 103 pages, surely not a novel?) takes the reader from the meeting of Ethel and Ernest in 1928 to their deaths in 1971, capturing in images their life together. They are humble, hard-working, honest, naive (Ethel), canny (Ernest)...Briggs does it all with a few words and wonderful facial expressions. It is poignant and funny, bittersweet and wonderful all at once. I think this will be a gift I will be giving to people over and over again.

Raymond Briggs is well known in Britain (sadly, less so in North America) for his funny and often deeply poignant graphic novels. Possibly his best known work is When The Wind Blows, the story of an elderly couple who survive a nuclear holocaust - for a time.

This later book is a biography-cum-social history of his parents: how they met while "in service", their life during the Blitz, and the many changes that they experienced after World War II. It's easy to see in Briggs's parents the seed of the elderly couple that appeared in many of his other works.

I discovered Ethel and Ernest in a second-hand bookstore, where I meant only to browse it. But when a book moves you to tears after only a few pages, you know you've found something powerful. It's funny, bittersweet, and true to the bone. ( )