Sandcastle

By Pierre Oscar Lévy & Frederik Peeters. Published by Self Made Hero.

Hardcover, 104 pages, B&W, 2021 (originally published in French in 2010)

The inspiration for M. Night Shyamalan's major motion picture 'Old'

Early morning on a perfect summer's day, people begin to descend on an idyllic, secluded beach. Among their number, a family, a young couple, a refugee and some American tourists. Its fine white sand is fringed with rock pools filled with crystal clear water. The beach is sheltered from prying eyes by green-fringed cliffs that soar around the cove. But this utopia keeps a dark secret.

A woman's body is found floating in the waters, which brings these thirteen strangers together to try and unravel the riddle of the sands and escape the beach alive in this tense, fantastical mystery.

Frederik Peeters is an award-winning Swiss comic book artist best known for his autobiographical graphic novel Blue Pills. He has received five nominations in the Best Book category at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. In 2013, he won the Best Series prize at the same event for the first two volumes of his science fiction series Aama. Peeters is also the author of Pachyderme, Sandcastle (with Pierre-Oscar Lévy) and The Smell of Starving Boys.

Pierre Oscar Lévy is an accomplished documentary filmmaker whose work includes a series on the Chauvet cave, Premier Convoi, Georges Perec – Un parmi eux and Je sais que j'ai tort mais demandez à mes copains, ils vous diront la même chose (Short Film Palme d'Or, 1983). After meeting on an adaptation project for Blue Pills, Pierre Oscar Lévy and Frederik Peeters collaborated on the graphic novel Sandcastle.

"Sandcastle truly inspired my film Old. It is a profound mystery sci-fi graphic novel that is illustrated so beautifully and with such humanity. Its theme of ageing had me thinking about my parents and children, and how quickly it all goes by. From the moment I read this, I was changed."— M. Night Shyamalan

"By turns touching, frightening, and strangely believable. It's a low-key SF gem with heart."— SFX Magazine

"Peeters does an excellent job of illustrating Levy's tale of claustrophobic terror… A Lynchian tale."— The Quietus