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A review by book_concierge
Griffin & Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence by Nick Bantock
5.0
I read this slim little novella when it first came out (and have a first edition). I was completely captivated and was thrilled that the feeling remains the same on my second reading.
Griffin Moss is an artist living in London. He produces a series of postcards that are beautifully illustrated with his artwork. One day he receives a cryptic postcard from Sabine Strohem, a woman living in the South Pacific island nation of Sicmon Islands. She asks him to send a particular postcard, and mentions an earlier version. But how could she know about that earlier version? Griffin never showed it to anyone and changed the design before ever producing the cards.
Thus begins an extraordinary correspondence between these two souls. Sabine explains that she has been seeing visions of his art for many years, though she cannot really explain why or how. He confesses he has felt “watched” but put it down to paranoia; now he feels exhilarated to have found her.
The reader feels as if she is eavesdropping on a particularly intimate exchange between two lovers as they learn more about each other and pour their hearts out in their letters and cards to one another. The illustrations begin as beautiful, colorful, drawings; Griffin’s are whimsical (a kangaroo in a red hat); Sabine’s focus on the island fauna. But as their correspondence continues the drawings become ever more fantastical and disturbing, hinting at madness and violence.
The ending takes the reader by surprise, and leaves one hanging, wanting more.
Griffin Moss is an artist living in London. He produces a series of postcards that are beautifully illustrated with his artwork. One day he receives a cryptic postcard from Sabine Strohem, a woman living in the South Pacific island nation of Sicmon Islands. She asks him to send a particular postcard, and mentions an earlier version. But how could she know about that earlier version? Griffin never showed it to anyone and changed the design before ever producing the cards.
Thus begins an extraordinary correspondence between these two souls. Sabine explains that she has been seeing visions of his art for many years, though she cannot really explain why or how. He confesses he has felt “watched” but put it down to paranoia; now he feels exhilarated to have found her.
The reader feels as if she is eavesdropping on a particularly intimate exchange between two lovers as they learn more about each other and pour their hearts out in their letters and cards to one another. The illustrations begin as beautiful, colorful, drawings; Griffin’s are whimsical (a kangaroo in a red hat); Sabine’s focus on the island fauna. But as their correspondence continues the drawings become ever more fantastical and disturbing, hinting at madness and violence.
The ending takes the reader by surprise, and leaves one hanging, wanting more.