Looking for a Wordless Book

March 11, 2010 4:21 PM

I'm looking for the title and author of a wordless book (just pictures) that came out probably in the 1990s, and probably British. It concerns a man's life from childhood, through his teen years, into his marriage, the death of his wife, and in the end I think he dies. I can't remember the author/artist or the publisher. I think the pictures were full page watercolors or in the style of watercolors.
posted by MarioM to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

Might it be Ethel and Ernest, by Raymond Briggs? (Er, or perhaps not, as there are words in Ethel and Ernest...)
posted by hot soup girl at 5:02 PM on March 11, 2010

I'm probably totally off-base here, but did it involve a tree? Shel Silversteen's _The Giving Tree_ covers all of that. But the tree was kind of a main character, and the drawings were line drawings in my copy.
posted by Ys at 5:19 PM on March 11, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks HSG, that's the book i was looking for.
posted by MarioM at 6:31 PM on March 11, 2010

Ethel and Ernest (1998) was my first thought too. Maybe the 'wordless' criteria is due to confusion with "The Snowman", Briggs' most famous work (which really was just pictures)?

Just read Ethel and Ernest a few months ago. Incredible book.
posted by soy bean at 6:33 PM on March 11, 2010

Awesome! To be honest I'd never even heard about Ethel and Ernest until just now, but your description reminded me of When The Wind Blows, so I googled up some other Raymond Briggs books. Sounds like a great book.
posted by hot soup girl at 9:47 PM on March 11, 2010