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The countdown to launch day has officially begun for Not Death, But Love: The Strange, Supernatural Story of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. In less than two weeks, readers will have the opportunity to dive into the strange, supernatural world of Victorian Spiritualism and explore the fascinating life of iconic poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Deeply researched and strikingly illustrated in a haunting, Victorian style, the graphic novel puts an eerie and romantic twist on the true story of the literary legend who penned Sonnet 43, famously beginning with, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”
An invalid since childhood due to a mysterious illness, Elizabeth Barrett lived a hermit-like existence inside her tyrannical father’s household in Victorian England. Though opium helped manage her constant pain, she lived anticipating death. Instead, she found an unexpected and sweeping romance with dashing fellow poet Robert Browning, who whisks her away to a new life of freedom, health, and happiness in Florence, Italy.
Spiritualism and the Shadows of Grief
However, lingering grief from the era drew Elizabeth into the shadowy, fast-spreading craze of spiritualism. As Lavender Vroman explains in her interview with Temple of Geek, people were desperately trying to contact dead relatives because “a lot of people lost relatives back then because they didn’t have the medicine we have now, and so there was a lot of grieving going on”.
During a visit to London, Elizabeth witnessed the otherworldly feats of celebrated medium Daniel Dunglas Home. While Robert developed an immediate and bitter rivalry with Home, even writing a poem about him called Mr. Sludge the Medium, Elizabeth fell under the spell of enchanting Boston heiress Sophie Eckley. Together, the two women engaged in spiritual experiments that ultimately threatened Elizabeth and Robert’s status as soulmates. Vroman notes that the story tackles the universal human need for connection, asking questions about “doubt versus faith” and “real love versus toxic love”.
The Creative Team behind “Not Death, But Love”
The book is a collaborative effort between writer Lavender Vroman and illustrator Joshua Kemble. Lavender Vroman is a writer, editor, former entertainment journalist, film critic, and pop culture blogger whose lifelong hyper-fixation on Elizabeth Barrett Browning began in high school and evolved into a screenplay while studying at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Reflecting on bringing the project to life after years of it sitting in a box, Vroman shares, “Seeing it come to life was really amazing… Without him it would just be this manuscript sitting in a box in my closet”.
Joshua Kemble is a professional cartoonist, illustrator, and art teacher known for his introspective storytelling and bold black-and-white artwork. He is the author of Two Stories and Jacob’s Apartment.
How You Can Support the Creators
If you haven’t preordered your copy yet, you can easily do so by visiting lavendervroman.com and clicking a preorder button on the home page. Vroman emphasizes the importance of this step, stating, “Preordering is key to kind of how things go in the future. So if you’re at all curious, it would be really great if you would just pre-order it”. Other impactful ways to support the debut author and her co-creator include preordering through your favorite indie bookstore, telling a friend, family member, or book club about the book, posting about it on social media, or asking your favorite bookseller, local comic book store, or librarian to stock and order copies.
Pre-Order on Amazon.
