Taken from Blackwood by Hannah Eaton
SOME very English folk horror for your post-Christmas delight? Hannah Eaton’s Blackwood was one of Graphic Content’s Graphic Novels of the year. It’s the beautifully drawn story of two suspiciously similar murders decades apart in a small, overlooked corner of the country.
Set in the fictional town of Blackwood, Eaton’s story takes in eerie folk traditions and rumours of witchcraft, and a local peer with a menagerie and Irish servants, but also deals with issues of insularity, class and post-traumatic stress disorder that feel very much of the moment.
Here, Eaton talks about her book, the real-life murders that inspired it, family history, Brexit, her love of The Wicker Man, the end of multiculturalism and the “obfuscating woo woo” of Agatha Christie.
discharged his weapon. the san francisco police department targets black kids. reporter: family and friends are outraged. she says her son grew up with him, who she described as spi t spirited. she accuses police of racial profiling. it s like my child has a target on his head because he s a black male. and i m sick of it. i am really, really tired of it. he s gone. for so long i knew him and it s so hard to believe. reporter: those who knew derek said he had gotten into minor trouble but was back on track. he drove him home from school every day trying to keep him on a straight path. ost kids when they do bad don t make it back. he was awesome. he s on his way back. that s what s killing me. it s a little kid, not an adult. reporter: derek s family wants a full investigation. they say he wasn t violent, and believe police wept way too far. it s a boy. he didn t deserve to be killed. derek was just a kid. struggling, as all teenagers do. i just want to know w