Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Most Anticipated Books of 2025!

Book Summary and Reviews of Dotter of Her Father's Eyes by Mary and Bryan Talbot

Dotter of Her Father's Eyes by Mary and Bryan Talbot

Dotter of Her Father's Eyes

by Mary and Bryan Talbot

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Published:
  • Feb 2012, 96 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

Part personal history, part biography, Dotter of Her Father's Eyes contrasts two coming-of-age narratives: that of Lucia, the daughter of James Joyce, and that of author Mary Talbot, daughter of the eminent Joycean scholar James S. Atherton. Social expectations and gender politics, thwarted ambitions and personal tragedy are played out against two contrasting historical backgrounds, poignantly evoked by the atmospheric visual storytelling of award-winning graphic-novel pioneer Bryan Talbot.

Produced through an intense collaboration seldom seen between writers and artists, Dotter of Her Father's Eyes is smart, funny, and sad - an essential addition to the evolving genre of graphic memoir.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $50 for 12 months or $18 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Book Awards

  • award image Costa Book Awards, 2012

Reviews

Media Reviews

"...their exquisite and moving book feels like a celebration, for all that there is so much sadness between its covers. It says: we have survived – and we still like each other so much, we have made this." - The Guardian

"An ingenious snapshot of life in postwar Britain and in early-20th-century Paris and Europe. It is a testament to the power of the graphic novel that a tale like this can be told in this format. It also makes me hope that this won't be Mary Talbot's only foray into fiction. She has a rare feel for the material." - Washington Independent Review of Books

This information about Dotter of Her Father's Eyes was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $50 for 12 months or $18 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Information

Mary Talbot is an internationally acclaimed scholar who has published widely on language, gender and power, particularly in relation to media and consumer culture. Her recent books include Language and Gender (2nd edition) and Media Discourse: Representation and Interaction, though she continues to be best known for her critical investigation of the 'synthetic sisterhood' offered by teen magazines.

Dr Talbot has worked in higher education for over twenty-five years and Dotter of Her Father's Eyes is the first work she has undertaken in the graphic novel format. She is currently scripting a historical graphic novel.

Bryan Talbot has worked on underground comics, science fiction and superhero stories such as Judge Dredd and Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Vertigo titles include Hellblazer, Sandman and Fables and has written and drawn several Eisner Award-winning graphic novels. In 2009 he was awarded a Doctorate in Arts. He is currently drawing Grandville Bete Noire, the third volume in his series of steampunk detective thrillers.

More Author Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $50 for 12 months or $18 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more graphic novels...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $50 for 12 months or $18 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
The Wager
by David Grann
From the bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a gripping story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth.
Book Club Giveaway!
Win Help Wanted

Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman

From the best-selling author of The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. comes a funny, eye-opening tale of work in contemporary America.

Enter

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Harlem Rhapsody
    by Victoria Christopher Murray

    The extraordinary story of the woman who ignited the Harlem Renaissance.

  • Book Jacket

    Beast of the North Woods
    by Annelise Ryan

    When a local fisherman is mauled to death, it seems like the only possible cause is a mythical creature.

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

T the L

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.