On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden

It’s not often that I stumble upon a book that makes me feel as many feelings as strongly as I did when I first read Tillie Walden’s On a Sunbeam. And upon second reading (something even rarer for me, but I wanted to brush up on this treasure before writing about it), I was surprised at how strongly I still felt. 

Last October, my friend Ashleigh texted me. Ashleigh and I became friends when, at 12 years old, we bonded over our unabashed love of Star Wars. Since then we have shared mutual interests in movies, comic books - pretty much anything pop-culture. So, when she sends recommendations, I listen. “Hey friend. I was half listening to a podcast earlier and it mentioned this new book - On A Sunbeam by Tillie Walden. All I really heard was something about spaceships shaped like koi fish, 500 pages of gorgeous illustrations and there being no men in the book. 🤣 Anyway thought I’d recommend it to you!” And a week later, the book was in my hands, and not long after that it became one of my favorites.

As promised, On a Sunbeam is 533 pages of stunning illustration and a beautiful story of young love and loss that is told so effectively, it will bring you back to your teenage years — the intensity of feeling seen and finding connection at an age when everything is so amplified, feelings just consume you. The fact that there are no men in the book is never addressed, and honestly, I sort of forgot to notice it while I was reading. Set in an unknown future, the book tells the story of Mia in two timelines: one following her early high school years and one at her first job after graduation, traveling through space working on construction projects with her new team.

I am not a fast reader. And because of that, I rarely ever re-read anything (I want to, I have books sitting on my shelf waiting to be re-read, but I never seem to get there). And yes, this is a graphic novel, but it is a huge graphic novel. I say this to emphasize the point: I flew through this book. The first reading took me around a week — and that was just because I spaced it out, because I didn’t want it to end. On my second time through, I read through most of it in a single day. I recommend this book to any and everyone who will listen. It’s a book about finding yourself and the people who build you up; it is poignant and sweet and at times sad and, at least for me, resonates so much and have I mentioned how gorgeous it is?? Because dear god.

I don’t want to give much more of it away, but I really, truly cannot recommend this book highly enough. It’s going to stick with me for a long time.