The Tear Bottle

$15.65

Wholesale $20.90 + GST
RRP $40.00
ISBN 9780473741129

The Tear Bottle is about the objects families covet as a way of holding on to their past. It is a graphic memoir, told by bickering sisters trying to find out the truth about something their grandmother left behind. Via the medium of cartoons,  I invite readers to think about their own family histories. Is it really our heirlooms, or the stories we tell about them that help us to understand ourselves, our whānau and what matters?  The story is linked to this heirloom that is not at all what the family thought it was. Through the comedy of family dynamics and with the backdrop of history, I talk about the serious issues of death, grief and forgiveness.

If you’ve ever had to sort through the possessions of a lifetime, you’ve had to weigh up what to keep and what to give away. The wrenching moment where you’ve packed everything up and sent it to the second-hand shop: did I just get rid of something precious without even realising it? Or, you might encumber yourself with your deceased relative’s things because you simply can’t decide which things they treasured the most; getting rid of any of them seems like betrayal! The Tear Bottle acknowledges the grief and guilt that accompanies loss, but it focusses on how fill in the gaps with stories. By making light of the heavy problem of keeping and remembering, it provides its readers with a way to deal with, and tell stories about, the stuff that gets left behind.

The Tear Bottle is written and illustrated by Annemarie Jutel, an experienced storyteller whose books have always been best sellers in their fields. The New Zealand Women’s Guide to Running: Beginner to Elite (Longacre Press) was a finalist in the Listener Women’s Book Festival, and a NZ best seller; and Putting a Name to It:  Diagnosis in Contemporary Society (Johns Hopkins University Press), is the seminal text, and widely considered to be world leading in the sociology of diagnosis.

Published by Annemarie Jutel
April 2025

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Wholesale $20.90 + GST
RRP $40.00
ISBN 9780473741129

The Tear Bottle is about the objects families covet as a way of holding on to their past. It is a graphic memoir, told by bickering sisters trying to find out the truth about something their grandmother left behind. Via the medium of cartoons,  I invite readers to think about their own family histories. Is it really our heirlooms, or the stories we tell about them that help us to understand ourselves, our whānau and what matters?  The story is linked to this heirloom that is not at all what the family thought it was. Through the comedy of family dynamics and with the backdrop of history, I talk about the serious issues of death, grief and forgiveness.

If you’ve ever had to sort through the possessions of a lifetime, you’ve had to weigh up what to keep and what to give away. The wrenching moment where you’ve packed everything up and sent it to the second-hand shop: did I just get rid of something precious without even realising it? Or, you might encumber yourself with your deceased relative’s things because you simply can’t decide which things they treasured the most; getting rid of any of them seems like betrayal! The Tear Bottle acknowledges the grief and guilt that accompanies loss, but it focusses on how fill in the gaps with stories. By making light of the heavy problem of keeping and remembering, it provides its readers with a way to deal with, and tell stories about, the stuff that gets left behind.

The Tear Bottle is written and illustrated by Annemarie Jutel, an experienced storyteller whose books have always been best sellers in their fields. The New Zealand Women’s Guide to Running: Beginner to Elite (Longacre Press) was a finalist in the Listener Women’s Book Festival, and a NZ best seller; and Putting a Name to It:  Diagnosis in Contemporary Society (Johns Hopkins University Press), is the seminal text, and widely considered to be world leading in the sociology of diagnosis.

Published by Annemarie Jutel
April 2025

Wholesale $20.90 + GST
RRP $40.00
ISBN 9780473741129

The Tear Bottle is about the objects families covet as a way of holding on to their past. It is a graphic memoir, told by bickering sisters trying to find out the truth about something their grandmother left behind. Via the medium of cartoons,  I invite readers to think about their own family histories. Is it really our heirlooms, or the stories we tell about them that help us to understand ourselves, our whānau and what matters?  The story is linked to this heirloom that is not at all what the family thought it was. Through the comedy of family dynamics and with the backdrop of history, I talk about the serious issues of death, grief and forgiveness.

If you’ve ever had to sort through the possessions of a lifetime, you’ve had to weigh up what to keep and what to give away. The wrenching moment where you’ve packed everything up and sent it to the second-hand shop: did I just get rid of something precious without even realising it? Or, you might encumber yourself with your deceased relative’s things because you simply can’t decide which things they treasured the most; getting rid of any of them seems like betrayal! The Tear Bottle acknowledges the grief and guilt that accompanies loss, but it focusses on how fill in the gaps with stories. By making light of the heavy problem of keeping and remembering, it provides its readers with a way to deal with, and tell stories about, the stuff that gets left behind.

The Tear Bottle is written and illustrated by Annemarie Jutel, an experienced storyteller whose books have always been best sellers in their fields. The New Zealand Women’s Guide to Running: Beginner to Elite (Longacre Press) was a finalist in the Listener Women’s Book Festival, and a NZ best seller; and Putting a Name to It:  Diagnosis in Contemporary Society (Johns Hopkins University Press), is the seminal text, and widely considered to be world leading in the sociology of diagnosis.

Published by Annemarie Jutel
April 2025