Lillian The Legend

Plot

This graphic novel is a fascinating historical drama about a pioneering Russian immigrant in the 1920s. Lillian Alling gets off the boat at Ellis Island, then works as a seamstress in the factories of New York. Homesick and determined, she sets out on an epic journey to get back to Russia with nothing but an iron bar for protection. She walks the Telegraph Trail to Dawson City, Yukon, and eventually floats down the Yukon River to the Bering Sea where her fate becomes shrouded in mystery. Byrne's historical narrative in comics form renders Alling's journey with meticulous inks, from sweeping landscapes to the tiniest detail, without missing a beat.