Simon, a bookseller, has hit hard times. The financial crisis has hit and sales have slumped; his store looks set to close, and he has become increasingly withdrawn.

Returning from his storeroom in the woods, he stops at an isolated railroad crossing. There, he witnesses a suicide. The moment hits him like a bomb. Withdrawing deeper into himself, Simon is haunted by memories from his past – memories repressed, from a time he’d prefer to forget. It is only by chance that he meets Regina, a young girl who begins to provide the comfort and support he needs. But who is Regina, and can she help him come to terms with the loss of a childhood friend?

A beautifully drawn and impressively crafted debut from Aimée de Jongh, The Return of the Honey Buzzard is a compelling, cinematic and emotionally perceptive graphic novel about confronting the past and starting again.