The Girl Who Flew Away - Lee Dean - ★★★

AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR: Lee Dean

GENRE: Historical Graphic Novel

PUBLICATION DATE: March 18, 2025

RATING: 3 stars.

In a Nutshell: A graphic novel about a pregnant girl who feels alone in the world. Good use of the 1970s historical setting and the Florida Keys location. Somewhat literary in style, complex characters, slightly unstructured plot, no closure at the end, old-style illustrations. This is for those who are more about the journey than about the destination.

Plot Preview:

1976. Greer Johnson is pregnant with her boss’s baby. At his insistence, she is forced to move from Miami to Florida to stay with his acquaintances, Donald and Kate Bender. The Benders, an old childless couple, have their own reasons for allowing Greer into their house. However, their constant interference bothers Greer, and she longs for someone to understand her. With only a Cuban immigrant gardener around, Greer resorts to flights of fancy to save herself from the dreary days. But will her imagination be enough to improve her reality?

While reading the synopsis of this novel, the historical fiction fan in me became quite curious. The trope of a single pregnant girl being sent to Florida isn't new to historical fiction readers. However, most such books involve the use of “maternity homes”, where the unwed girls were kept till their delivery and their babies would then be offered for adoption while the girls returned to their pre-pregnancy carefree(?) life. This graphic novel surprised me by not having a maternity home at all. Greer was at a private residence, and absolutely free to move about town. So it certainly wasn’t the kind of story I thought I was getting.

Greer’s stay at the Bender residence carries different complications. As Donald Bender doesn’t have a lengthy role, the main conflict of the plot comes from the tussle between Greer and Kate. Given their circumstances and interactions, it is quite tough to decide whom to root for. You might assume that it is obvious to have sympathies towards the pregnant protagonist, but Greer’s behaviour is such that in some scenes, Kate’s frustration reflects our frustration. Many of Greer’s decisions spring from naivete and selfishness, while Kate’s responses come from age-domination and stubbornness. Basically, this isn't a book for those who want likeable characters. Except for Pablo the Cuban gardener (who is a bit too perfect to be convincing in a book wherever everyone else is flawed), the characters are mostly grey and annoying.

There are three subplots in this book. One is, of course, Greer’s life, covering her stay at the Benders’ place and her musings over her future. The second arc is connected to Greer’s imaginative tendencies, which make her create a story about a little girl named Eugenie. The scenes related to Eugenie were quite sweet to read, though they too contained moments of pain. A part of me enjoyed Eugenie’s story much more than Greer’s story. The final arc is about Greer’s past memories, mainly focussing on her late mother and on her old friend named Chris. These left me conflicted as they raised several issues without sorting any properly.

The main reason I couldn’t connect with Greer is that, while her past is explained to some extent, her present decisions don’t come out that clearly. What exactly led to the dalliance between her boss and her, and was it even a dalliance or rape by deception, we never know. Several other life choices she makes are also not elucidated well. The reasons for Kate’s almost-bipolar behaviour are also not explained properly. I would have liked the story far better if I were able to get a clear handle on the characters’ motives and actions.

The title seems to indicate a positive storyline, but the book is rarely positive. With several heavy themes such as closeted attitudes about pre-marital pregnancy, enforced Christian beliefs, mental health issues, self-harming, body image issues, childlessness, illegal immigration, and loneliness, the book felt overloaded with issues. Some scenes showed televised news or a radio broadcast running in the background, and these added even more socio-political topics connected to the news of the day. As such, this book doesn’t make for easy reading at all.

The action of “flying away” indicated in the title is metaphorical for the most way, in terms of how Greer flies away in her imagination. The ending gives a more literal tone to the same, but it offers no closure by leaving the future uncertain.

The illustrations are like nothing I have seen before. This kind of artwork worked both for and against the book. It is quite vintage in style, so reading the book often felt like reading an old comic. As can be seen from the cover page, the book is landscape in orientation, which also adds to the novelty of the experience.  I took some time adjusting to the darkish colour tone that used mostly browns and greens. But once my eyes got used to the palette, I enjoyed the illustrations. I even liked that the three subplots each had a distinct colour scheme; it made things easier to understand, especially as no timelines were given and hence flashbacks could turn confusing. Many pages had only graphics and no text, but the panels on these contained several intricate detailing, where the character’s emotions, left not just unspoken but also unexplained, weren’t always easy to interpret. As such, this 410+ pages novel needs concentration.

All in all, this is a very literary kind of graphic novel, with a strong character-oriented plot that doesn’t explain much. You might consider it a clever book that reveals only the characters’ actions and allows you to make up your own mind about them. But if you are the type of reader who prefers all i's dotted and t’s crossed, you might find this book a bit frustrating.

Recommended to those who enjoy the journey of a story more than its destination, and who value the art of a graphic novel more than its plot. I like the destination as much as the journey, and I prefer a balance between plot and art no matter how well either factor works individually. Thus, this book just hits the midway mark for me.

My thanks to Iron Circus Comics for providing the DRC of “The Girl Who Flew Away” via Edelweiss+. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.