Secret Passages

<b>Welcome to an autobiography from another dimension. A wildly inventive cartoonist begins her imaginary memoir -- exploring the girlhood she never had.</b> <p/>Many LGBTQ adults look back on their youth and wonder: what might have been? Growing up in the closet tends to produce a sort of double identity between the inner self and the self seen by the outside world. Now cartoonist Axelle Lenoir in her unpredictable and imaginative way makes this metaphor real. <p/><i>Secret Passages</i> narrated by the adult author begins with the death of her (male) cosmic twin. From there it launches into a rollicking ride of childhood antics set in 1985 small-town Québec. We get to know Axelle (a rebellious little girl who dreads Grade 1 and is captivated by the spooky forest near the house) her brothers (who share her off-the-charts enthusiasm for cartoons and toys) and their long-suffering parents (who may or may not be aliens). <p/>These lively comic-strip style anecdotes reminiscent of <i>Calvin & Hobbes</i> and packed full of pop-culture parodies are juxtaposed with surreal twists as Axelle's existential crisis mutates the narrative building to a mind-bending climax.