In award-winning author Ondjaki’s Our Beautiful Darkness, a boy and a girl spend a night together during a power outage in Luanda, Angola, at the height of the Angolan Civil War, which immediately followed Angola’s independence from Portugal in 1975.
With the sting of chaos all around these two unnamed protagonists, and the lingering uncertainty that not only comes with war, but also with physical darkness, they find themselves delving into an existential exploration of the heart, as well as an unspoken buildup of affection and yearning. Should the boy lean in for a kiss? Their hands are touching—is that a sign?
In this young adult graphic novel, translated from the original Portuguese by Lyn Miller-Lachmann, all of this takes place while the two characters contemplate the possibility of the impossible—such as sending wishes to the stars that wars would cease to exist, children would no longer be taken by them and there could be a rainbow bridge that brings home people who have died in the war.
Antonio Jorge Gonçalves’ illustrations pair perfectly with the blackout setting, in that each spread leaves something to be questioned and interpreted, just as the two characters do through dialogue. While the boy and girl discuss their pain and the cruelty of war, they rejoice in the little things the darkness has brought them: closeness, silence, time with nothing else to do and a determination to make this night together as beautiful as possible. With such a stunning representation of not only pain and conflict, but also the joy that is still able to make its way through, Our Beautiful Darkness is sure to leave readers considering, appreciating and reflecting on the world around them.
