About With Only Five Plums

The Graphic Novel

With Only Five Plums addresses the same themes as Art Spiegelman’s Maus, Joe Kubert’s Yossel, and Miriam Katin’s We Are on Our Own. The story is set in Germany and Czechoslovakia before, during, and after World War II. It is told through the recollections of one of the massacre’s few survivors, Anna Nesporova. The author, Terry Eisele, interviewed Ms. Nesporova on four occasions for a total of almost fifteen hours in the mid-1990s. These interviews provide the foundation of the graphic novel. The story is told in three chapters.rooftop2s

The Writer

  • Terry Eisele

  • Writer

Terry Eisele has taught English for twenty years in places as far flung as the Czech Republic, Switzerland, California, and Ohio. He is currently an associate professor at Columbus State Community College. He received a master’s degree in comparative cultural studies from the Ohio State University. He reads comics, supports Arsenal Football Club, and writes in his spare time. He lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife, Michelle, and their two dogs. With Only Five Plums is his first graphic novel.

The Artist

  • Jonathon Riddle

  • Artist

Jonathon Riddle has been writing and drawing comics since childhood, his first comics work being an adaptation of The Return of the Jedi rendered in crayon at the age of four. He is a graduate of the Columbus College of Art and Design with a major in illustration. He currently lives in Columbus, Ohio, and is a member of the Columbus-based group Sunday Comix. With Only Five Plums is his first graphic novel.