Everything Is Teeth by Evie Wyld and Joe Sumner review – a graphic memoir of an obsession

Sharks cruise menacingly across the pages of this subtle and evocative autobiography

Evie Wyld grew up terrified of sharks. During summer holidays on her grandparents’ farm in coastal New South Wales she hoovered up stories about the man-eating chompers and how to avoid them (lie very still and play dead, according to a hearty uncle in shorts). Back home in drizzly south London, Evie carried the obsession with her, convinced that those fearsome teeth were about to appear through the plug-hole or from under the sofa. The sharks followed her as she went through an averagely un/happy suburban childhood – hovering above her in the street, looming outside the bedroom window, staring at her through a rear-view mirror – until their presence became almost comforting, like a sentry standing guard against other, less nameable fears.

Wyld, a Costa-shortlisted novelist, uses her signature oblique style to excellent effect in conjuring up a child’s world of everyday nightmares. What makes this book a radical departure, though, is that her words are accompanied by ribbons of graphic illustration. Joe Sumner has rendered Wyld’s staccato narrative into a strip cartoon, complete with horror-story sharks that cruise menacingly across the pages, looking for small girls to munch.

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