- Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron (the fictional gothic novel, not the very real graphic novel) appears in six of my books: It’s in His Kiss, What Happens in London, Ten Things I Love About You, Just Like Heaven, The Sum of All Kisses and The Secrets of Sir Richard Kenworthy. It’s a very badly written, over-the-top gothic novel that half of my characters love and and half of my characters think is utter drivel.
When readers asked me to write Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron, I always said no. The writing is florid, the plot absurd—It’s a lot of fun in bits and pieces, but an entire book would not be a pleasurable reading (or writing) experience. But my sister Violet Charles was a cartoonist and illustrator, and it occurred to me that while it would be a terrible prose novel, it could be a spectacular graphic novel. I gave her the idea, and she ran with it.
On the interior title page, one pigeon says to the other, “I’m not sure the author used ‘purview’ correctly.” This is a nod toward What Happens in London. Olivia says this to Harry, who says it to Prince Alexei, who says it Sebastian, who (predictably) says, “Of course it is.”- The pigeons have names, even though the reader doesn’t learn them all. We made magnets out of them (below). Left to right, they are: Sylvia Van Nest, Jean-Clawd, Clarence, Wingston, Rebeaka, and Eggsmerelda. Not pictured: the Propriety Pigeon. And Gerald.
Inside Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron
- Explore more Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron, a Graphic Novel Book Extras
- Explore more Inside the Story
← See all of JQ’s Bonus Features
share the JQ love:
