Age: 8+
Hardcover: 21 CM X 28 CM
208 pages
Full colour

In the city of Meltipotto, two very different peoples coexist: the Tattars, nomads who cherish falcons, flowers, and life in yurts, and the Cochaks, sedentary people that adore wood, bears and their houses.

One day, Odon, the son of the Tattar falconer Broggart, returns home in a bad mood after a heated argument with Elm, the son of the baker and the woodworker, both Cochaks. At the same time, Elm comes home with a sad look on his face, accompanied by his inseparable pet bear, Sniff, who walks by his side. His father lifts his eyes from his workshop, and Elm begins to tell the exact same story, but from his point of view, of course.

What seemed to be a simple quarrel between children turns into an excuse for the adults to revive old tensions, prejudices about the other people, and tribal pride that seemed forgotten, escalating to the point that the Tattars are forced to leave the town.

The story of Elm and Odon begins in the same way, but then takes completely different narrative paths, eventually converging at the end when the two protagonists, after many mishaps, make a revolutionary decision together.

With Beyond the River, Giuseppe Ferrario attemps something new and original: a double-sided comic with full-page panels that addresses fundamental themes for the growth of a contemporary child, such as acceptance of others, war, and coexistence between cultures.

THE AUTHOR

Giuseppe Ferrario was born in Milan in 1969. After attending the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, he began working as a set designer for Gardaland and later became an illustrator and cartoonist. He has worked for Walt Disney, Warner Bros, and MTV. The first book of his series Thoni and His Cousins (HarperCollins) was a finalist for the Strega Prize Ragazze e Ragazzi in 2021.