Tall Water: A Graphic Novel

From Stonewall Honor-winning writer SJ Sindu, author of Shakti, and celebrated illustrator Dion MBD comes a powerful coming-of-age teen graphic novel that follows one girl's journey to Sri Lanka to reconnect with her long-lost mother during the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. Perfect for fans of Persepolis and Almost American Girl.

Ever since she turned sixteen, Nimmi has wanted to see her mother. Though she has a loving but overprotective father and a budding relationship, she yearns to travel to Sri Lanka to confront the mother who refused to leave the island during a war, not even for Nimmi's sake. Her father is going back for the first time as a reporter on assignment, but he refuses to take her, deeming Sri Lanka too dangerous.

But then Nimmi's mother appears to her in a dream, asking her to come find her, and Nimmi knows she must go. Her father is livid when he sees her at baggage claim, but by then it's too late, and he reluctantly agrees to help Nimmi make contact with her mother. In Sri Lanka, Nimmi tags along with her father and his guide, past checkpoints and armed soldiers and increasing hints of the war that rages there.

However, the day after Christmas, disaster strikes and a tsunami ravages the island. Stranded amid the devastation and destruction, can Nimmi reunite with her mother? Through her journey, Nimmi might just learn that the person she most needed to find was herself.

SJ Sindu is a Tamil diaspora writer whose works include the novels Marriage of a Thousand Lies (winner of the Publishing Triangle Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction and an ALA Stonewall Honor Book) and Blue-Skinned Gods (finalist for a Lambda Literary Award) as well as the graphic novel Shakti, the short story collection The Goth House Experiment, and the chapbooks I Once Met You But You Were Dead and Dominant Genes. Sindu holds a PhD in English and creative writing from Florida State University and is an assistant professor of creative writing at Virginia Commonwealth University. More at sjsindu.com.

Dion MBD is an Indonesian illustrator whose works are inspired by the interaction between the natural and human-made world. When not creating images, Dion is building a community and education platform called Ilustrasee for aspiring illustrators in Indonesia. If you can't find him in his studio in Bandung, he is most likely traveling to learn more from those living all across the globe. Visit Dion at dionmbd.com.