Book review: Alone, by Christophe Chabouté

In a world that seems to get faster and shoutier by the minute, the gentle, slow-burning graphic novels of French artist Christophe Chabouté feel like little oases of calm. Faber & Faber published an English translation of his 2012 book Un peu de bois et d’acier (literally “A bit of wood and steel”) last year, under the title The Park Bench, and it clearly found an audience in the UK because now we have a second Chabouté release: Alone, a translation of his 2008 book Tout seul.