Ethel & Ernest #1

Ethel & Ernest, published in 1998, is a deeply personal graphic novel by Raymond Briggs that chronicles the lives of his parents from their first meeting in the late 1920s through their deaths in the 1970s. Briggs created the work as a historical and familial reflection, capturing the social transformations of twentieth-century Britain through the quiet, mundane, and poignant experiences of an ordinary working-class couple living in London.

The design of the work is characteristic of Briggs’s signature style, utilizing a warm, approachable color palette and sequential panels that emphasize the passage of time and the accumulation of life's small moments. Upon its release, the book was widely praised by critics and readers alike for its gentle, unflinching honesty and its ability to elevate the story of a typical marriage into a profound meditation on aging and historical change, ultimately becoming a staple of British graphic literature.