Bex Glendining has written and illustrated On Starlit Shores, an absolutely beautiful, magical, and achingly sad story on how grief affects people on a day-to-day basis.

Alex and her best friend, Grim, are heading to Indigo Harbour, the place where her grandmother lived and where Alex grew up. Alex hasn’t been back to Indigo Harbour for years. Her memories of the place are scattered and few, but once she arrives, she knows that going back is going to be much harder than she originally thought.

As Alex and Grim begin cleaning out her grandmother’s cottage, she discovers things about her grandmother and Indigo Harbour that she never knew, or that she may have forgot. Alex learns about witches, a woman named Elizabeth, and the local lore surrounding falling stars. Attending a local festival brings everything to a head, forcing Alex to decide if she really wants to learn her grandmother’s history when there’s a chance she’ll forget it all again after she leaves Indigo Harbour. This reconnection to her past is life-changing, but brings more questions than answers for Alex.

This graphic novel affected me way more than I thought that it would. Even though On Starlit Shores has elements of magical realism, readers still deal with heavy topics of grief, love, and acceptance.  On Starlit Shores felt like there were two different story lines: one to do with grief and one about the mysteries of Indigo Harbour. This was still a great read.