Okay this is very unfortunate because I couldn't download the book in the middle of my exams as I got busy with them and when I did have the chance, the book was archived and I couldn't read it. The premise of the book is really exciting and I enjoyed Lydie by the same publisher so my expectations were high. I really do wish I could read it but I am unable to and unable to provide a review as well. I have no doubt it's a great book.

The White Sultana: It's nice to look at, but that's where it ends

Now, I feel as though the author made a few errors in judgement when writing the plot for this comic:

The first mistake you make when writing a historical fiction comic book is that you forget that the audiences for comics and historical fiction are often mutually exclusive.

The second mistake you make is to ensure that your main characters are rich, colonialists Brits who almost no one in our day and age can relate to.

The third mistake and most painful mistake is to include no adventure. The reason Sherlock Holmes is still so well-loved today and remade for modern audiences is because, despite it involving two white middle-aged Brits in the 1800s, there is so much fun, mystery and intrigue involved. And an annoying woman walking in [insert beautiful Asian enivornment here] is so...it's such a waste of a great artstyle. There is potential here.

Our White Sultana will tell us her story, even if there isn't much to tell. And so, a floppy, bland porridge with a gorgeous artstyle was born.

The Sultan's here sure don't swing: The plot

"It's been such a long time, now...you will have to pardon my occasional lapse in memory. After all, When I arrived in China, I was very young, very naive, and not a keen observer.

The plot centres around a young British woman who looks suspiciously like Madonna whose name I've already forgotten. She accepts as position to be a tutor and caretaker of two spoiled British kids somewhere in colonial China. She's oh so good at learning new things and is a glorified Mary-Sue. Our titular character begins with a very naive, looking-down-at-the-poor kind of outlook. She also ends with a very naive, looking-down-at-the-natives kind of outlook. You know what they say, no gain...no gain.

And so our generic British woman goes on "adventures" to different Asian countries with her rich boss/obvious love interest. This comic just feels so stale. Our main character grew up poor and was never a part of the British upper class, and yet she's still a larny (South Africa world for posh) cardboard cutout.

The saving grace: the artstyle
The fantastic lines, curves and clean finishes of the water colour painting is stunning! It is clean, is is subtle, warm and inviting. If it weren't for the art style I would have bumped this sucker down to a one star.

Conclusion
There are lots of superficial British guys and gals in this one. To be honest, reading their exploits put me at such a distance and made everything so impersonal. There is no real adventure at all and no real revelation or lesson learnt and certainly no focus on the indigenous people of each country. What's the point? No real adventure or danger and definitely no good characters.

A quite remarkable story and cleverly adapted for the format of graphic novel. It is either two stories about 2 different women who have a connection in their love for the Far East. Or it is one story of a life that could have gone two ways based on a response to a job advertisement in s newspaper.
In one version a woman tells of her full life, often marred by sadness and grief but fulfilled in the homes she lived in, the clothes she wore and the places she went to during her lifetime. In the other account a similar woman maintains her love for the Orient by collecting memorabilia and clippings of a more romantic lifestyle while living and working all her life in Whitechapel.
One is full of colourful illustrations, the trappings of wealth and the richness of places once part of the Empire. The other is grey and colourless with a sense of an empty life as seen in a lonely death.
That this is managed in this medium is quite clever and the piece is open in which interpretation is the real one. The missed opportunity and a lifetime of what might have been or he reality of grasping your destiny.
If it is two separate lives somewhat linked it still works but again throws up the stark differences in the role and opportunities for women in this period. Based either on making a good marriage or being a spinster left without family in your later life.
My only comment against the story is that these nuances are not clear and have to be attached to the work rather than drawn from the intended narrative.
Therefore, the reader gives it more depth and resonance or finishes the tale somewhat confused.
Worth a look and a read as has historical value as well as strong female characters.

*SPOILERS FOLLOW*

This was both interesting and depressing. Kind of "Sliding Doors" in premise.

Though I have to say, the life lived in England didn't seem to be a bad one. She rose to a position of some clout in her job and just because one doesn't get married doesn't mean that life is empty. I wouldn't say the black and white life depicted was worse than the one in color, just different. Less adventurous, but much of that adventure brought pain.

Though I have to wonder if Fanny would have ended up dead, just in a different way in the black and white world.

This was a very good, if sad story. Though it does make one think. I know I have a major fork in my past road, one that would have made my life completely different if I had followed it, but I can't say it would have been any better than my life is now.

3.5 stars, rounded up, because it does make the reader think. Somewhat depressing, but interesting. Recommended if you like historical fiction and alternate realities/parallel lives.

My thanks to NetGalley and Europe Comics for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

'The White Sultana' by Pierre Christin with art by Annie Goetzinger is a beautifully illustrated graphic novel about how one decision can change our lives.

The book goes back and forth between two women. One is Emma Piggott a woman who has just died in London after a life of being a schoolteacher at St. John's. Her story is told in black and white. The other is the story of Lady Sheringham, who answers and advertisement to be a governess and finds her life changed forever with wealth and adventure. She sometimes dreams of Emma, and she finds it troubling.

The art is some of the best I've seen lately in a graphic novel. There is depth and detail that show that great care was taken in the art of this book. On the art alone, I would give it 5 stars.

But the story feels like a forced morality tale where it seems obvious which choice we should take. Lady Sherinham's life is full of color and wealth and privilege. We don't get much detail in Emma's life, but she must have made a difference in the life of a student or had very loving reasons for living her life. Those are never shown. Instead, we see the medical "professionals" who pick over her belongings, leading us to believe it's better to be rich than dead. I'd prefer to make my own choices and not have them made for me.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Hmmm… Looks-wise, this certainly deserves five stars. It's a beautiful book, about a beautiful woman, who gets to see the High Society of late colonial life and beyond in the Far East. And it's a dreary piece of a woman who's already dead, with a bare sustenance on her kitchen shelves and no telephone in her home, who's having her belongings picked over by a doctor and ambulance driver (which is the only place unrealism turns up, in both the second chap being a solo ambulance driver, and their criminality). We're supposed to wonder at and enjoy the possibility the dead woman is reality and the lovely pastel wardrobe and scenery of the Asian scenes fantasy, or one of the two plots just the result of a chance decision or change of mind. I can see that's the point of the book, but I really didn't enjoy having to come off the fence of the creators' own making and decide for myself. Still, there are storytelling merits to add to the looks of the piece, and the way the French people behind this get the nuance of the British spirit abroad is wonderful. It's not often I start a four star review with the hesitancy of my ''hmmm'', but such is the nature of this script you could be pondering its truths for some time.

This is a beautifully balanced historical piece about British nobility and post WWII in Asia. The plot is quite interesting about our heroine and the life she lived or the life she could have lived. In one version of the story ,Emma ,a school teacher answers an ad to be a tutor to children of an aristocrat in the Shanghai, marries the aristocrat and a number of other fabulous adventures follows. In the other version, she writes the letter, but never sends it and she never lives her hometown- it's a matter of decisions! The story is presented like a parallel universes.
The beautiful illustration work perfectly conveys the period too. I also loved the fact that this comic comes in colors!

Interesting take on the road not taken. In one version of this story, a school teacher answers an ad to be a tutor to children of an aristocrat in the Shanghai, after WWII. In the other versions, she writes the letter, but never sends it. Which life is real? It isn't really important to the story. We follow her exciting adventures, a a servant of the upper classes of the British, as the Empire goes the way of all flesh, but she survives and thrives.

As you can see below, the gray drawings are of the woman who didn't go to Shainghai, dying alone, and the brightly color images are of the woman, at the end of a life well spent, but very much alive, telling her story to us.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-392" src="http://www.reyes-sinclair.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Screen-Shot-2018-04-13-at-9.48.56-PM.png" alt="" />

A little flashy, very old British Empire, and adventures, and wealth. It is a pleasant enough story, but not terribly exciting. A good quick sort of read.



Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

An interesting story about a woman and the life she lived and the life she could have lived.

In one life she never leaves her home town and she lives a very safe life of dull boring colours. In the other life the woman takes up a position abroad in the colonies and she lives a life of adventure, privilege and wealth.

We are not told which life is the real life but we get to see the vibrancy of a life in which risks are taken and one which is safe, but drab. It is a good story with excellent artwork and the two stories are told in a contrasting way. It conveys a silent message about living to our fullest and seizing opportunities. The story is made powerful by the contasting colours and you may find yourself hoping that this young woman lived the vibrant life. Unfortunately we are not told. I think this is a good graphic novel with bright artwork and a fascinating story.

The White Sultana will likely be categorized as an indulgence to two very beloved French comic artists/writers: Pierre Christin and Annie Goetzinger. Their pairing for this story is serendipidous: Goetzinger, known for her knowledge/love of fashion, perfectly captures this historical urban fantasy. North American audiences may be puzzled by this very French presentation - it is subtle, poignant, and very understated, without the 'Michael Bay' overwrought storylines we so often see these days. But at the same time, it does feel more like a pleasant appetizer rather than the 'full meal' most expect from a stand alone graphic novel story. Pierre has crafted a story about the fall of the British empire, as seen through Asia.

Story: As an aged British aristocrat Lady Sheringham is interviewed about her fantastic life in Asia, a doctor and an ambulance driver are finalizing the effects of an elderly woman who recently died in the middle class suburb of Whitechapel. Where one woman's life was one of love, adventure, and luxury, the other lived a lonely life dreaming about the far East. At the heart of the story is a find by the ambulance driver of an old newspaper ad seeking a tutor to two motherless aristocratic children in Kuala Lumpur - and a response that was written but never sent. How might this young woman's life been different had she not decided to stay at home to make sure her parents were taken care of as they aged?

The book is beautifully balanced, with Lady Sheringham's wild life as a socialite, stepmother, wife, and even spy during 1940s-1970s Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, and Brunei contrasted against the lonely woman collecting all kinds of articles and pictures of Asia but never actually leaving her Whitechapel neighborhood. Emma Piggot's scenes are in black and white - she is dead at the start of the story and we learn of her as her belongings are sorted by ae doctor and ambulance driver as they wait for the morgue hearse to arrive and remove the body. Meanwhile, Lady Sheringham happily recounts wonderful adventures and exploits as she moves around in societies affected by political (communist) and religious issues in Asia.

As an historical piece, it is quite interesting. We get a glimpse of the British nobility but always framed through Emma's middle class sensibilities. The artistocrats all have hyphenated names, are rather silly, and band together even when not appropriate. Pierre Christin cleverly gives Emma's fantasies a very pulp novel feel, with the dashing husband, perfect adoring step children, bad guys causing problems, explorations of new worlds, and an innocence that ends up waning as the 1960s through 1970s cold war creeps into the far East. This gives the story a whimsy that grounds the harder historical aspects - Emma's not a wit and is very much a woman of her age: an adornment and passive observer.

The illustration work beautifully conveys the period. Using very authentic and well researched costuming, for once we have a historical piece that accurately represents the eras. Lady Sheringham's wardrobe and hair are exquisitely perfect - and give the story authenticity. From (of course) a Dior New Look ensemble to later Dior works with the wide brim hats and sleeker fashions. These are contrasted with the women daringly donning Qipaos and other East-meets-West fashions. It all is quite lovely to admire just how spot on Geoetzinger nails the look and feel of post WWII Asia through her illustration work. In this regard, the cover very well represents what you will find inside.

Because these are two very well known French artists (though Christin spent a good part of his life in America), this is a book that I can't help but feel will confuse North American readers. A story about an elderly woman's fantasies would always be a hard sell. But even within, moments encapsalating the 'gallic shrug' about life may seem pointless or fluff. As well, Goetzinger's casual nudity and 'fan service' moments of looking up skirts/underwear can feel superflous or, worse, pandering. Certainly, I found the way those scenes were drawn extremely distracting in an otherwise lovely piece.

If this feels like a woman's fiction, in a way it really is, despite being written by a male author. The soft pastel color scheme and female-centric tale of money and privilege, adoring men and plenty of fashion, do set that stage. And yet, the pointlessness of both women's lives and how little they truly mattered or really had a contribution to their societies in either world means this is definitely not a feminist piece. To be honest, if anything the historical accuracy was welcome but also a reminder of how little a woman contributed in British society through to the 1980s.

So yes - it does feel underwhelming. And yet, it stayed with me quite a bit afterwards. A meditative reminder of what playing 'safe' can cost, even for a very average woman. And a glimpse of the 'beginning of the end' of the British empire. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.