Graphic Memoir 'Chartwell Manor' Reckons With Childhood Sexual Abuse And Its Aftermath

In 1986, the former headmaster of a New Jersey boarding school, Terry Lynch, was charged with more than 100 counts of sexual abuse of minors who were students at his school, Chartwell Manor. Lynch served seven years of jail time, and after his release, went on to falsely pose as a doctor and sexually abuse patients.

In his wake, Lynch left dozens to reckon with the life-altering aftermath of his abuse.

One of those people is cartoonist Glenn Head, who was a student at Chartwell Manor in the 1970s. Head went on to become a cartoonist, and he reckons with what he experienced and how it affected his life in a graphic memoir named after the school: “Chartwell Manor.”

We discuss the new book as well as what it meant to relive his experiences by drawing them.

Here are the opening pages of “Chartwell Manor,” written and illustrated by Glenn Head: