Insightful, Stone fruit is a touching representation of queer loss and queer families, one you shouldn’t miss. Lee Lai crafts believable relationships and dialogue, clumsy, hurtful, and profound. It puts family, chosen or not, on the same level of importance, and explores the difficulty of relationships within those systems. With complexity, Stone fruit tackles romantic and familial love from a queer perspective. Ray returns to her sister as well and progressively rekindles their friendship. Bron is going back to her conservative Christian family that is not quite accepting of her transidentity and queerness, where she gets to discover her sister more. As they drift apart, their lives mirror each other. He raised his right hand and touched the stone shell. From the mosquito’s memory, this place seems to be the same as where its ancestors were born What is this stone shell Wang Lin’s eyes lit up and he walked toward the stone shell. If they seem full of joy while babysitting Nessie, Ray’s niece, the tension is quick to come back once the latter goes back to her mom. He gently patted the mosquito’s body, and his gaze fell on the fruit-like, stone shell. As she is hanging up, her sister Ray goes back to her regular human self, and the blue tone of the panels suddenly appears cold and austere. But it’s time for one to go: Amanda is calling, it’s time for her daughter to come back. Bron and Ray are a queer couple who enjoy their role as the fun weirdo aunties to Ray’s niece, six-year-old Nessie. The mystical creatures, not animals but not quite human either, seem joyful and full of freedom. Written and Illustrated by Lee Lai An exhilarating and tender debut graphic novel that is an ode to the love and connection shared among three women and the child they all adore. The book starts with a fantastical chase. Through Stone Fruit, she wanted to clarify her mind around parenthood while tackling the subject of chosen family. The young artist, born in Melbourne, Australia, currently lives in Montreal. Stone Fruit is Lee Lai’s first graphic novel.

We need more than perfect happy stories: we need sad stories, difficult stories, enraging stories, funny stories, complex stories. We have flaws just like others, that need to be shown in art and culture too. We don’t need to justify our worthiness by being perfect. As much as all queer relationships don’t end up in death and sorrow, they’re not just love and rainbow either.

Stone fruit novel