The Secret to Superhuman Strength

Alison Bechdel

A GUARDIAN, OBSERVER AND FINANCIAL TIMES ‘BOOKS OF 2021’ PICK
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2021

From the bestselling, award-winning author of Fun Home comes this Christmas’s must-gift graphic novel.

All her life, Alison Bechdel has searched for an elusive secret…

The secret to superhuman strength.

She has looked for it in her favourite books, the lives of her heroes, celibacy, polyamory, activism, therapy, and most obsessively, in her lifelong passion for exercise. Skiing, running, karate, cycling, yoga, weightlifting – you name it, she’s tried it. ““Oh, to be self-sufficient! Hard as a rock! An island!”“

But as she gets older, her body isn’t getting any stronger. And in a changing, sometimes overwhelming world, are ““cantaloupe-sized guns”” all a person needs? Maybe the all-important secret is not where she expected to find it . . .

‘The Secret to Superhuman Strength practically glows with a beguiling mixture of intellect, warmth and humour’ Daily Telegraph

In this, her third graphic memoir, Alison Bechdel has written a deeply layered, personal story about selfhood, self-sabotage, mortality, addiction, bliss, wonder, and the concerns of a generation. This is an extraordinary, laugh-out-loud chronicle of the conundrums we all grapple with as we seek our true place in the world. Truly, a must-gift book this Christmas.