The Night Watchman

Blurring the lines between picture book, fiction, and comics, this distinctive illustrated novel by a European team defies easy categorization; part noir detective story and part fable, Labrune’s narrative flexes and shimmers with bold magical realism. A night watchman narrates; equipped with a forehead lantern that casts a bright yellow beam wherever he looks, he is charged with guarding a town whose three clock towers are being sabotaged one by one. “Time,” he declares, “has lost its voice.” He tracks down the culprit, the Vagabond, and his accomplice, a beautiful newspaper vendor the Watchman knows and admires. They convince him to hear their story before arresting them, and the knowledge they reveal changes their lives and dooms the town. Fischer’s artwork, like primitive linocuts, uses luminous blues, yellows, and roses to conjure obscure shapes and ghostly figures. Wilson’s translation is elegant, though the text will likely strike many readers as overwrought (“They have returned to haunt the night, disgorging themselves into the streets through the suppurating wound of the sewers”). Yet those who give themselves over to it may find themselves entranced. Ages 8–up. (Oct.)