Tender by Beth Hetland

Tender by Beth Hetland

NPR Books We Love 2024

New York Public Library Best Comics for Adults 2024

Comic Book Herald Best Comics of 2024

WBEZ Chicago Best Reads of 2024

Harvey Awards Book of the Year 2024 NOMINEE

American Library Awards 2024 Best Graphic Novels for Adults Reading List

Bram Stoker Award NOMINEE 2024

Carolanne wanted a perfect wedding, a perfect husband, a perfect family. She carefully performs her own roles (gal pal, bestie, girlfriend, wife, and expectant mother) and in trying to enact agency over her life, sacrifices it completely. Her desire to control the uncontrollable ultimately becomes her undoing. When things don't go her way, she exerts dominance over the one thing she does have total control over: her body; until that "betrays" her. After suffering a horrible loss, Carolanne spirals into a literal, all-consuming delusion that will engross comics readers and horror aficionados alike.

Chicago cartoonist and educator Beth Hetland's graphic novel debut is a brilliant psychological thriller that tears down the wall of a genre -- body horror -- so often identified with male creators. Heady and visceral, Tender uses horrific tropes to confront women's societal expectations of self-sacrifice despite those traditional roles often coming at the expense of female sexuality and empowerment.

Kim Kavin is the author of Tools of Native Americans: A Kid's Guide to the History & Culture of the First Americans. She lives in Long Valley, New Jersey.

Beth Hetland was born and raised in the rolling hills of Wisconsin. She graduated from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2009 with a BFA and from the Center for Cartoon Studies in 2011 with a MFA in Comics. Beth is currently a member of the Faculty at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago teaching comics.