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 The financial crisis has struck and sales have slumped; his store looks set to close, and he has become increasingly withdrawn.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