Ethel & Ernest: A True Story [Paperback]

Raymond Briggs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 23, 2001

Poignant, funny, and utterly original, Ethel & Ernest is Raymond Briggs's loving depiction of his parents' lives from their chance first encounter in the 1920s until their deaths in the 1970s.

Ethel and Ernest were solid members of the English working class, part of the generation that lived through the most tumultuous years of the twentieth century. They met during the Depression--she working as a maid, he as a milkman--and we follow them as they court and marry, make a home, raise their son, and cope with the dark days of World War II. Briggs's portrayal of how his parents succeeded, or failed, in coming to terms with the events of their rapidly shifting world--the advent of radio, television, and telephones; the development of the atomic bomb; the moon landing; the social and political turmoil of the sixties--is irresistibly engaging, full of sympathy and affection, yet clear-eyed and unsentimental.

Briggs's illustrations are small masterpieces; coupled with the wonderfully candid dialogue, they evoke the exhilaration and sorrow, excitement and bewilderment, of experiencing such enormous changes. As much a social history as a personal account, Ethel & Ernest is a moving tribute to ordinary people living in an extraordinary time.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Raymond Briggs's loving tribute to his parents has an emotional power that far exceeds its deceptively simple technique. Graphic in format, the book combines vigorous but sensitive illustrations with dialogue that cogently elucidates its characters' personalities. Milkman Ernest meets lady's maid Ethel in 1928. In short order they are married, holders of a mortgage, and parents of a boy--solid members of the English working class, aspiring to more for their son. As they experience the Depression, World War II, postwar prosperity and cultural upheaval, readers come to know them intimately. Ernest is left-wing, unashamedly proletarian, and perennially enthusiastic about the great changes modernity is bringing, from unemployment insurance to highways. Ethel is a Tory, a bit of a snob, and far more realistic about how much actual improvement they can expect and what it will cost. They worry about their adored child constantly, especially after he goes to art school. She gets sick and grows senile in 1970; he dies shortly after her in 1971. It's hard to imagine a reader who won't weep when their son looks at the pear tree in the yard of the house the couple inhabited for 41 years and says, "I grew it from a pip." Plain words and plain people strike a universal chord in this touching memoir. --Wendy Smith --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

This wonderful book by noted children's author/illustrator Briggs (The Snowman) is something quite new: the story of his parents' quiet lives, played out against the stirring events of the century, done as a comic strip. Ethel was a rather timid ladies' maid, Ernest a dashing milkman, when they first saw each other in 1928. He swept her off in a whirlwind courtship, and they bought the little London row house where they were to live the rest of their days. In pictures exquisitely attuned to the niceties of English domestic architecture and period clothes, Briggs takes Ethel and Ernest fondly through the decades. He is born, a source of great joy, but it's a difficult birth and Ethel is told she can't have any more children. World War II approaches, and little Raymond is sent off to the country as an evacuee. After the war, Ernest, an ardent Socialist, believes that utopia has arrived, while the more cautious and conservative Ethel keeps bringing him back to earth. Then come the wonders of their first car, the advent of television, Raymond's eventual marriage in the swinging '60s and the aging couple's gradual decline into senility, floowed by their deaths within weeks of each other. The dialogue is heartbreakingly accurate, the pictures cinematic in their conveyance of delight and drama; the whole book is not only a deeply moving testament to "ordinary" folk but a precious piece of social historyAthe essence of a lower-middle-class English life over seven decades. This was deservedly a bestseller in England and warrants no less here. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 104 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon; First Edition edition (October 23, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375714472
• ISBN-13: 978-0375714474
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.4 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #209,570 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Glorious, October 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ethel and Ernest: A True Story (Hardcover)

An absolutely wonderful memoir, and I use the word memoir deliberately as this is not simply or solely a story told in images, Briggs shows as much in each picture as any prose writer could in several paragraphs of type. This book made me laugh and cry. I gave a copy to my parents and another to a teenage friend, I can't imagine anyone not enjoying Ethel and Ernest's story. A must have.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Sweet Ode To Briggs' Parents, March 19, 2002

By 

Tom Kelly "film fan" (Keyport, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ethel & Ernest: A True Story (Paperback)

Ethel and Ernest are two rather ordinary people. They get married around 1930, live together in the same house for 41 years, have a son, and then die the same year. Neither of them does anything more extraordinary than live and love.

And that's more than enough. Briggs' story is little more than a series of snippets of conversation and events of a long relationship. We see Ethel and Ernest bond, bicker, and regret. We see the love they have for themselves, and how they adjust over time. There's a great conversation between the two while Ernest is watching the moon landing, and Ethel just doesn't see the big deal of it all. I was greatly surprised when the story was done and I felt real sorrow for the two of them. Briggs' artwork is really moving, and displays the changing of the times on his parents very well.

This is a nice, quiet, loving character study about two people who may not have lived an exciting life, but that's probably one of the things that makes this piece of graphic literature work best. Highly recommended to all fans of serious graphic art.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deserves a wide audience, absolutely charming, December 23, 2001

By 

K. Corn "reviewer" (midwest, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Ethel & Ernest: A True Story (Paperback)

Told in mostly cartoon form, with dialogue alongside, this wonderful, unique book tells the true story of the author's parents, two "ordinary" people, from their first shy meeting to their last days together. World War two, the birth of television, the development and use of the atomic bomb are all seen through the eyes of Ethel and Ernest. I was charmed by the two of them, from their earliest days together to the purchase of their first house, birth of their son, wartime experiences (gas masks, blackout curtains, sending their 5 year old son to the country to be safe during the war), their son's marriage and the gradual decline and death of Ethel and Ernest. Jumps off the page!