The Heart of Thomas
Moto HagioThe setting: A boys’ boarding school in Germany, sometime in the mid-20th Century. One winter day, fourteen year-old Thomas Werner falls from a lonely pedestrian overpass to his death, immediately after sending a single, brief letter to another boy at the school:
To Juli, one last time.
This is my love.
This is the sound of my heart.
Surely you must understand.
Thus begins Moto Hagio’s The Heart of Thomas one of the most compelling and enigmatic manga graphic novels ever created, and a pioneer in the popular boys’-romance “shounen-ai” genre. Thomas’s death (was it an accident? Suicide? Or even murder?) immediately throws the school into turmoil, while his letter sets off a chain of emotional upheaval both for the recipient and an ever-expanding circle of friends, family, and teachers, as secrets are revealed and shared. And then a new boy who looks exactly like Thomas shows up at school
Unabashedly romantic and emotionally complex, The Heart of Thomas features an unusual, richly imagined setting and a cast of memorable characters. This timeless masterpiece is now finally available to American readers.
status | Copy #1 (4322): in |
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genre | Literature and Fiction » General Literature |
publisher | Fantagraphic Books |
publish date | 2007 |
popularity | checked out 1 time(s) |