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My Beloved Other: A Memoir of Love, Race, and Optimism in a Time of Denial
A timely graphic memoir about the far-reaching impact of racism in today’s society, as seen through the lens of one couple’s interracial marriage.
Where does the concept of “the other” come from? And who truly benefits when we allow fear of the other to steer our society? Through charming banter and illuminating anecdotes from their personal lives, writer-artist Nick Abadzis and psychotherapist Angela Watson chronicle their nearly forty-year interracial relationship, their respective family histories, and their ongoing experiences with anti-Black racism in Britain and America, from the overt racial taunts of childhood bullies to the more subtle biases of the adult workplace.
In the midst of a dangerous political backlash that threatens to derail decades―if not centuries―of movement towards a more equitable and diverse world, My Beloved Other puts questions of race front and center, and turns a critical eye to the systems that seek to exploit our differences. Above all else, it challenges readers to do what can sometimes feel keep hope alive for a future where difference is embraced as a source of unity, not division.
Where does the concept of “the other” come from? And who truly benefits when we allow fear of the other to steer our society? Through charming banter and illuminating anecdotes from their personal lives, writer-artist Nick Abadzis and psychotherapist Angela Watson chronicle their nearly forty-year interracial relationship, their respective family histories, and their ongoing experiences with anti-Black racism in Britain and America, from the overt racial taunts of childhood bullies to the more subtle biases of the adult workplace.
In the midst of a dangerous political backlash that threatens to derail decades―if not centuries―of movement towards a more equitable and diverse world, My Beloved Other puts questions of race front and center, and turns a critical eye to the systems that seek to exploit our differences. Above all else, it challenges readers to do what can sometimes feel keep hope alive for a future where difference is embraced as a source of unity, not division.
272 pages, Hardcover
Published August 11, 2026
About the author
Nick Abadzis
187 books69 followersNick Abadzis was born in Sweden to Greek and English parents and was brought up in Switzerland and England. He is a writer and artist who likes comics (which means these days he seems to be known as a "graphic novelist"). His work for both adults and children has been published in many countries across the world.
He also works as an editorial consultant and has helped set up several best-selling and innovative children's magazines, including most recently, The DFC for David Fickling Books, the first British children's comic to feature original characters in nearly a quarter of a century. His storytelling contribution, Cora's Breakfast, was featured in The Guardian. His work has also appeared in The Times, The Independent on Sunday, TimeOut, Radio Times, and various other BBC publications and websites. Other clients have included Eaglemoss Publications, HarperCollins, Harcourt Education, Scholastic, Orchard Books, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and 2000AD. He lives in London with his wife and daughter.
He also works as an editorial consultant and has helped set up several best-selling and innovative children's magazines, including most recently, The DFC for David Fickling Books, the first British children's comic to feature original characters in nearly a quarter of a century. His storytelling contribution, Cora's Breakfast, was featured in The Guardian. His work has also appeared in The Times, The Independent on Sunday, TimeOut, Radio Times, and various other BBC publications and websites. Other clients have included Eaglemoss Publications, HarperCollins, Harcourt Education, Scholastic, Orchard Books, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and 2000AD. He lives in London with his wife and daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Two people have a first date. They are on either side of Westerminter Bridge in London, and between them is a protest that turns into a riot. But Nick doesn’t want to miss his date, so he charges on through to meet up with Angela. Angela is black of Jamaican descent. Nick is white, of Greek and white British descent.
That is how things start. From there, they talk about how the world sees them, and how they see the world. There are some bad times in London, to be sure, but they really notice people looking at them strangely, in New York, where they eventually move to.
There are many things explored in this book. One is how the slave trade benefited Great Britan, with its sugar trade. There is also information about the Windrush generation, where the UK asked people from the Caribbean to come and rebuild the country, after World War II.
It is an interesting study in racism, and how ingrained it is in society, to the point that people who don’t experience it just can’t see it.
Fascinating book, with some history that I didn’t know about, including racist marketing materials that were standard in England.
Thanks to Netgalley and First Second for making this book available for an honest review. This book will be published on the 11th of August 2026.
That is how things start. From there, they talk about how the world sees them, and how they see the world. There are some bad times in London, to be sure, but they really notice people looking at them strangely, in New York, where they eventually move to.
There are many things explored in this book. One is how the slave trade benefited Great Britan, with its sugar trade. There is also information about the Windrush generation, where the UK asked people from the Caribbean to come and rebuild the country, after World War II.
It is an interesting study in racism, and how ingrained it is in society, to the point that people who don’t experience it just can’t see it.
Fascinating book, with some history that I didn’t know about, including racist marketing materials that were standard in England.
Thanks to Netgalley and First Second for making this book available for an honest review. This book will be published on the 11th of August 2026.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This is a tremendous work that made me feel so many emotions, including sadness and frustration. While the book starts out with a couple who met in the UK, Nick and Angela, and talks about the racism and classism experienced there, the shift of when they moved to the United States really spoke to me, as I was born in the US and have lived there most of my life (with a brief exception of living in Japan for six years).
Interspersed with memories from the couple’s lives and stories of their relatives and parents, are observations made from history and society. The art style changes during these scenes, the most poignant and heartbreaking being the ones where Nick and Angela look like Charlie Brown characters and are talking to an alien about things like the origins and reasoning behind racism.
It opened my eyes to how different racism was in the UK versus the US, but how there were similarities, too. (Like the UK’s Golliwog being like an Aunt Jemima or Uncle Ben or Uncle Tom in the USA).
The book covers the 90s into the 2020s with major American milestones of oppression and racism, like the murder of George Floyd.
There is so much that this book covers and examines through the lens of a devoted interracial couple. While the book addresses widespread systemic issues, there are also the smaller aggressions and microaggressions against the couple, too.
This is an incredible work that I honestly I think everyone needs to read. It’s a highly accessible, thought-provoking read that will summon a slew of emotions from you as you turn the page. It had me nearly crying at one point. I can’t recommend this enough.
Interspersed with memories from the couple’s lives and stories of their relatives and parents, are observations made from history and society. The art style changes during these scenes, the most poignant and heartbreaking being the ones where Nick and Angela look like Charlie Brown characters and are talking to an alien about things like the origins and reasoning behind racism.
It opened my eyes to how different racism was in the UK versus the US, but how there were similarities, too. (Like the UK’s Golliwog being like an Aunt Jemima or Uncle Ben or Uncle Tom in the USA).
The book covers the 90s into the 2020s with major American milestones of oppression and racism, like the murder of George Floyd.
There is so much that this book covers and examines through the lens of a devoted interracial couple. While the book addresses widespread systemic issues, there are also the smaller aggressions and microaggressions against the couple, too.
This is an incredible work that I honestly I think everyone needs to read. It’s a highly accessible, thought-provoking read that will summon a slew of emotions from you as you turn the page. It had me nearly crying at one point. I can’t recommend this enough.
August 8, 2026
In an ideal world, this book wouldn’t need to exist. Sadly, we don’t live in that perfect world and likely never will.
My Beloved Other is rooted firmly in Nick and Angela’s own story, and their experiences as a biracial couple. It’s an intelligent way of tackling a vast subject without ever dipping into cliches or platitudes: every part of this story is rooted in a lived truth, from their family histories as children of immigrants to the acutely observed natures of systematic racism in the UK and US and how that differs between the countries. It humanises the topic and draws you in: there is wonder here about love and how remarkable people can be at their best and equally disappointment when they allow their worst impulses to overwhelm them.
Thematically there’s a real beauty to the joint authorship too; an example of the beauty and joy of what can happen when you see past skin deep differences. That means that this isn’t a straightforward A to B to C journey, instead it aims to be panoramic in its portrait of lives lived and the world around us. It’s also a story only comics could really tell: a comics story about the bleaker aspects of living in a culture so dependent on first visual impulses.
Wise, funny, horrifying and yet rooted in a faith that we’re fundamentally better than our worst impulses, and all through the lens of hard-earned experience. And despite everything it dares to end on a note of hope, and earns the right to do that. Because without hope what are we? Exactly the book the world needs right now.
My Beloved Other is rooted firmly in Nick and Angela’s own story, and their experiences as a biracial couple. It’s an intelligent way of tackling a vast subject without ever dipping into cliches or platitudes: every part of this story is rooted in a lived truth, from their family histories as children of immigrants to the acutely observed natures of systematic racism in the UK and US and how that differs between the countries. It humanises the topic and draws you in: there is wonder here about love and how remarkable people can be at their best and equally disappointment when they allow their worst impulses to overwhelm them.
Thematically there’s a real beauty to the joint authorship too; an example of the beauty and joy of what can happen when you see past skin deep differences. That means that this isn’t a straightforward A to B to C journey, instead it aims to be panoramic in its portrait of lives lived and the world around us. It’s also a story only comics could really tell: a comics story about the bleaker aspects of living in a culture so dependent on first visual impulses.
Wise, funny, horrifying and yet rooted in a faith that we’re fundamentally better than our worst impulses, and all through the lens of hard-earned experience. And despite everything it dares to end on a note of hope, and earns the right to do that. Because without hope what are we? Exactly the book the world needs right now.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I really wanted this to be a a 5-star book, but the authors' note at the end explaining how this book evolved from a biography into a memoir made the places where things didn't quite mesh make a lot more sense.
Given that this was originally supposed to be about both Dads, it felt really jarring how much more we learned about Nick's dad than Angela's--where I felt like I actually learned much more about her Mom, but still less than about Nick's family.
I really loved the use of Golly as Angela's past-self conversation partner, as it placed her within a context that the book was explicitly critiquing. The use of a literal alien as Nick's discussion partner, therefore, felt a bit like a lack of interrogation. Yes, Nick's dad was a foreigner, and he wasn't fully at home anywhere, but he has deep friendship from a variety of places in his life and Continental Europe isn't an alien world. There had to be some symbol that would have had Nick confronting legacy and his place in Britain.
The portions about the US felt a bit rushed, which I imagine was a part of the transition, and didn't allow for an exploration of DEI on both sides of the pond.
This is still a laudable and important book that I will be recommending to lots of folks and I'm grateful to NetGalley for the eARC.
Given that this was originally supposed to be about both Dads, it felt really jarring how much more we learned about Nick's dad than Angela's--where I felt like I actually learned much more about her Mom, but still less than about Nick's family.
I really loved the use of Golly as Angela's past-self conversation partner, as it placed her within a context that the book was explicitly critiquing. The use of a literal alien as Nick's discussion partner, therefore, felt a bit like a lack of interrogation. Yes, Nick's dad was a foreigner, and he wasn't fully at home anywhere, but he has deep friendship from a variety of places in his life and Continental Europe isn't an alien world. There had to be some symbol that would have had Nick confronting legacy and his place in Britain.
The portions about the US felt a bit rushed, which I imagine was a part of the transition, and didn't allow for an exploration of DEI on both sides of the pond.
This is still a laudable and important book that I will be recommending to lots of folks and I'm grateful to NetGalley for the eARC.
August 23, 2026
Thanks to NetGalley and First Second Books for the digital copy of this book; I am leaving this review voluntarily.
My Beloved Other was such a spectacular surprise to me. The graphic memoir is of two people, one white, one black, who get married and deal with the systemic racism the couple faces through the years. Angela is of Jamaican descent; Nick is half British, half Greek.
The couple shares how the world saw them through the years. All we have to do is see how racist the British press was to the Duchess of Sussex to show a mirror of what the general populace felt. I would say, though, that the country is not nearly as racist as the United States.
For a time, Angela and Nick did live in the United States, which was markedly shocking and more disturbing than the way people treated them in London. But the two show how their love for each other and fellow man trumps the hate and bigotry thrown at them time and again.
The story and illustrations illuminate the whole Western Hemisphere colonial and racist past. The sugar plantations, the slave trade, the whole thing. How fragile white men ruled for hundreds of years. I thought the colors and style used in the illustrations was a door into historical facts and figures shown.
My Beloved Other was such a spectacular surprise to me. The graphic memoir is of two people, one white, one black, who get married and deal with the systemic racism the couple faces through the years. Angela is of Jamaican descent; Nick is half British, half Greek.
The couple shares how the world saw them through the years. All we have to do is see how racist the British press was to the Duchess of Sussex to show a mirror of what the general populace felt. I would say, though, that the country is not nearly as racist as the United States.
For a time, Angela and Nick did live in the United States, which was markedly shocking and more disturbing than the way people treated them in London. But the two show how their love for each other and fellow man trumps the hate and bigotry thrown at them time and again.
The story and illustrations illuminate the whole Western Hemisphere colonial and racist past. The sugar plantations, the slave trade, the whole thing. How fragile white men ruled for hundreds of years. I thought the colors and style used in the illustrations was a door into historical facts and figures shown.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley.
The art in this graphic novel is SO cool and it feels so personal! It was a 3 star for me just because it was not exactly what I thought it was from the blurb and it didn't hit as much as I hoped it would. Being a memoir, I was hoping to find more solidarity on how hard it is right now to exist with systemic racism in an interracial relationship. This book held all of that but also felt more like a book I would give to a friend who wanted to understand the history of racism and how it rears its ugly head today too.
The book is so in depth on numerous facets of the subject it addresses and I learned new things, because racism in the UK (especially with terms and phrases) crops up differently than it does in the US. I think patrons at our library will really enjoy it, I just know to not completely pitch it to them as a memoir now! It's like a memoir + social commentary + dissection of racism, which is cool as hell.
I was given the opportunity to read this title by NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
The art in this graphic novel is SO cool and it feels so personal! It was a 3 star for me just because it was not exactly what I thought it was from the blurb and it didn't hit as much as I hoped it would. Being a memoir, I was hoping to find more solidarity on how hard it is right now to exist with systemic racism in an interracial relationship. This book held all of that but also felt more like a book I would give to a friend who wanted to understand the history of racism and how it rears its ugly head today too.
The book is so in depth on numerous facets of the subject it addresses and I learned new things, because racism in the UK (especially with terms and phrases) crops up differently than it does in the US. I think patrons at our library will really enjoy it, I just know to not completely pitch it to them as a memoir now! It's like a memoir + social commentary + dissection of racism, which is cool as hell.
I was given the opportunity to read this title by NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley for my Advanced Reader's Copy of this book.
I feel like it is a very weird way to start my review based on actual sentences that the book make fun of, but my best friend is married to a black man (specifically Haitian.) I do not bring this up though to show how I am not racist (although I like to think I am not.) I bring it up because from the moment she starting dating the man who is the love of her life she started experiencing the same experiences that the couple in this book experienced. She would get weird side comments about how sex with a black man was different. Fast forward many years and people ask her who her daughters' mother is because there is no way her blond hair and blue eyes could possibly produce her beautiful black haired brown eyed children. The text and images can be a little chaotic, but this is a must for the material contained within. 4 stars
I feel like it is a very weird way to start my review based on actual sentences that the book make fun of, but my best friend is married to a black man (specifically Haitian.) I do not bring this up though to show how I am not racist (although I like to think I am not.) I bring it up because from the moment she starting dating the man who is the love of her life she started experiencing the same experiences that the couple in this book experienced. She would get weird side comments about how sex with a black man was different. Fast forward many years and people ask her who her daughters' mother is because there is no way her blond hair and blue eyes could possibly produce her beautiful black haired brown eyed children. The text and images can be a little chaotic, but this is a must for the material contained within. 4 stars
October 12, 2026
There are a few scenes that push it into territory that make me question adding it to our collection while overall being a powerful voice in the story of racism using his and his wife's mixed race marriage. As a creator, he wanted to tell the story of what it looks like on a daily basis (like how they met as he had to push through a protest on a bridge to get to her on the other side) but also historically what mixed race relationships endure. It's philosophical and political, emotional and important with strong feelings presented, a solid graphic novel format, and context to underpin it which then morphs it into much more than just a guy and a girl getting together but larger societal concerns that Abadzis addresses too.
It's cerebral.
It's cerebral.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley for the free digital copy to read and review.
This was… a little hard to describe. It’s very meandery. But I enjoyed it. I learned a LOT of things as the author goes into racism from across the pond as well as some of the racism here. I remember the Aunt Jemima overhaul and convos about that, so it was interesting to see there was a similar character elsewhere. Also the DEI frustrations were helpful to see. I had heard about the difficulties of implementing trainings but it was important to see just how much lipservice was done versus really tackling the subject. This was my Juneteenth read and it was a good one!
This was… a little hard to describe. It’s very meandery. But I enjoyed it. I learned a LOT of things as the author goes into racism from across the pond as well as some of the racism here. I remember the Aunt Jemima overhaul and convos about that, so it was interesting to see there was a similar character elsewhere. Also the DEI frustrations were helpful to see. I had heard about the difficulties of implementing trainings but it was important to see just how much lipservice was done versus really tackling the subject. This was my Juneteenth read and it was a good one!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This is an interesting graphic memoir and I like that it pulls from the experiences of both halves of the couple to explore race and how people’s perceptions and history have impacted their lives and the world as a whole. I just did not find myself drawn to reading it and felt that the pages were sometimes too busy, which made it feel daunting. Though my expectations did not line up with the actual experience of reading this, I do think there is a lot of value to the content. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you NetGalley and FirstSecond for the eARC!
A wonderfully written and strong call to action by Nick Abadzis and Angela Watson!
This book enlightened me to a small window of the British Black experience, as well as reinforcing for me to always confront the system I live in.
This book showcases the life and love of its coauthors as they navigate the modern world as an interracial couple navigating race, identity, culture, history, and current events, all told through a lense of humor, heart, frustration, and raw human emotion.
A wonderfully written and strong call to action by Nick Abadzis and Angela Watson!
This book enlightened me to a small window of the British Black experience, as well as reinforcing for me to always confront the system I live in.
This book showcases the life and love of its coauthors as they navigate the modern world as an interracial couple navigating race, identity, culture, history, and current events, all told through a lense of humor, heart, frustration, and raw human emotion.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Amazing read!!! A story about facing challenges of how the world view you as a couple. This book is released in such a great time. Racism nowadays is a big issue. When you found that right one dont give in to other’s prejudice. It hard to find optimism sometimes but in the end it will all be worth it if you just stay true to each other. Gotta stay positive these days.
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Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for giving me the chance to read this book in advance~
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Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for giving me the chance to read this book in advance~
October 7, 2026
Authors Nick and Angela chronicle their lives as an interracial couple, who met in London and relocated to New York. They share how the racism goes back decades (beginning with their parents), as well as their personal experiences and how society can possibly heal, one step at a time.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
War is all about dropping bombs on children and the innocent for maximum long-term effect.
My Beloved Other breaks my heart and gives me hope all at the same time.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley.
Review of advance copy
I received an early copy at Comic con
August 29, 2026
Can’t be objective here, I know the authors. They have stories to tell and this funny, poignant graphic novel is dripping in their humanity and generous nature. Wonderful.
September 20, 2026
Forever learning about racial inequality.
October 15, 2026
READ IT READ IT READ IT!
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