This summer, Maverick brings readers Across the Widest Sea, a visually arresting and emotionally grounded graphic novel exploring what it means to be cast into adulthood before you’re ready.
Created by author and illustrator Jean Cremers, with lettering by award-winning letterer Taylor Esposito and translation by Joe Johnson, who brings the story seamlessly to English-language readers.
Across the Wildest Sea sits in the in-between, where nothing is fully formed and nothing feels certain. Cremers’ fluid, expressive artwork carries that tension, letting the disorientation of growing up live on the page without forcing resolution.
Abandoned in the middle of the ocean by her parents to learn to fend for herself, Leonie must find dry land. She meets Balthazar, a teenager whose canoe is taking on water, and Agatha, who lets herself be carried by the current and no longer has any hope of landing. They join forces to find a shore. A metaphorical story about the transition from adolescence to adulthood.
Blending quiet character work with visual metaphor and atmosphere-driven storytelling, Across the Wildest Sea is perfect for readers drawn to introspective, emotionally grounded YA storytelling.
Across the Widest Sea arrives July 14, 2026, in paperback (ISBN: 9781545827314 | $19.99).
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Source: Graphic Policy
