The Unknown

A story of deceit, self-deception, and the search for happiness.

When Helen finds a newborn abandoned in a changing room in her boutique, she decides to keep the baby nestled in a cardboard box and hidden from her husband.

After Vicky is talked into sex work by her boarding school roommate, Wanda, all of Vicky’s secrets–including her affair with their history teacher and her pregnancy–are quickly uncovered.

As the two narratives converge, coincidences and secrets are revealed. Incisive, wicked and breezily unconcerned by taboos, Anna Sommer lets readers put together the pieces of her morally ambiguous fable.

The Unknown is the English language translation of Sommer’s L’Inconnu, a French language edition published by Les Cahiers Dessinés. In 2018, L’Inconnu was nominated for a prize at the prestigious Angoulême International Comics Festival.

About the Author 

Anna Sommer was born in Staffelbach in 1968. She lives in Zurich and works as a freelance comics artist and illustrator for, among other publications, NZZ Folio, Die Zeit, Libération and Strapazin. In 2006 she was awarded a year-long grant to draw comics by the city of Zurich.

Publication Details

978-1-77262-047-4
104 pages, 7×9.5 inches
b/w, trade paper
June 2020
Translated by Helge Dascher