Thornhill

Thornhill interweaves two storylines: diary entries written in 1982 by Mary, a lonely and bullied resident of the Thornhill Institute for Children, and wordless illustrated sequences following Ella, who moves next to the abandoned orphanage decades later. Mary's diary documents her deteriorating situation and obsession with making dolls, while Ella's story follows her growing investigation of the ruined building. The two narratives converge as Ella uncovers what happened to Mary.

Thornhill uses a hybrid format combining handwritten diary entries with extensive wordless black-and-white illustrations, but it is classified as a young adult novel rather than a traditional graphic novel. One of its two narratives is told entirely through sequential artwork without any text. The book was published in 2017 by Pam Smy, a British illustrator.

Thornhill is generally recommended for readers aged 10 to 14 and is classified as young adult fiction. The book deals with themes of bullying, isolation, psychological distress, and possible death that may be intense for younger readers. The atmospheric black-and-white illustrations contribute significantly to the book's eerie, gothic tone.

Mary is a lonely girl residing at the Thornhill Institute for Children in 1982, where she is tormented by other residents and finds solace in making and collecting dolls. Her diary entries, presented in handwritten text, document her escalating fear and isolation. Her fate is gradually revealed through the parallel modern-day narrative of Ella.