The Heart That Fed: A Father, a Son, and the Long Shadow of War

A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY TOP 10 BEST BOOK OF 2024
A NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST NEW COMIC OF 2024 FOR ADULTS

A brilliant, “powerful” (Booklist) graphic memoir, and a loving son’s exploration of his tumultuous relationship with his father, told through the lens of the Vietnam War and its lasting effects long after returning home.

As a college dropout amid the tumult of the 1960s and the Vietnam War, David Sciacchitano enlisted in the Air Force and volunteered to be sent overseas. An aircraft mechanic away from the front lines, David nevertheless experienced the chaos of war during the Tet Offensive and the 1975 evacuation. Although David returned home from the war with no physical injuries, it would be as if a part of him was forever left behind.

Set against one of the most polarizing events of the 20th century, The Heart That Fed is a beautifully illustrated and moving story of trauma and love–“a complex and empathetic portrait of war and its consequences” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)–told by a son seeking to understand a father now changed by PTSD and the horrors of war.