Belated Love Epiphany: A mutual one; Frances and Sebastian realize they love each other after spending a day together.

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Frances will keep Sebastian’s secret and design his dresses while he pays her generously and helps her realize her dream of being a real designer. That tangent aside, seriously, this book is gorgeous, Jen Wang is ridiculously talented, and I truly hope there is more on the way in the veins of The Prince and the Dressmaker, because this warmed my heart and gave me all of the fuzzy feelings. I wish, for the author's sake, I could lavish praise onto this unusual book, too, but I'm afraid it simply confused me.

Lady Sophia is miserable while in her regular clothes, but in the lurid black dress that Frances designs, she looks utterly radiant because of how happy she is. The Prince and the Dressmaker is very, very good comics, and puts the fairy tale tradition to wise ends. I'm reminded of feminist and queer-positive fairy tale books such as The Paper Bag Princessand King and King; feminist and queer-positive fairy tale comics like Castle Waiting, Princelessand Princess Princess Ever After; and the cross-dressing traditions of shojo manga (here slyly inverted) as well as manga's more recent explorations of transgender experience (notably, Shimura).

PRINCE — Jen Wang

As a side note, if you picked up this book looking for an in depth discussion of gender identity, you are out of luck here. I don't think in 1830 a heterosexual titled man would be understanding about finding out the person he was hitting on in public was male. This granular focus allows newcomers to experience the nuances of the play, which is rich in irony, hidden intentions and sudden shifts in emotional temperature.In an interview with Book Riot, author Jen Wang said, “I feel like these topics [of gender identity, secrets, and career building] can be really emotional because they are so personal, but I wanted people to feel hopeful. Why couldn't she at least have offered something in French, other than a couple of characters mentioning the Paris Ballet? Some have expressed criticism that Sebastian never declares himself to be gay, trans, or whatever, but all I kept thinking when I read this was the line from "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga: "Don't be a drag, just be a queen. However, the fact that it takes place in Paris, France and the Eiffel Tower is nowhere in sight it's safe to assume that it takes before 1887 at least. A pairing of the text of the Scottish Play with a filmed performance, designed with the Shakespeare novice in mind.