How do you know when love is real, and when it’s a trick? How do you know who you can trust when everything seems like an illusion?

I love historical fiction, poetry, and graphic novels, and I recently read a book which combines all three: “Not Death, But Love: The Strange, Supernatural Story of Elizabeth Barrett Browning,” written by Lavender Vroman and illustrated by Joshua Kemble.

It’s a suspenseful and moving Victorian-era narrative, which leans into the macabre. There’s a sort of Sherlock Holmes vibe.

The book is based on Elizabeth’s fascination with spiritualism, seances, and the Scottish medium Daniel Dunglas Home. Elizabeth’s husband, Robert Browning, disapproves and insists Home is a fraud.

There’s also a love triangle (quadrangle?) of sorts. I don’t want to give away the twists and turns but suffice it to say I couldn’t put it down and ended up reading it in one day.

The plot draws you in but so does the art: The angle of the scenes and the characters’ expressions add to the mysterious tone, and the sumptuous jewel tones transport you to 19th-century European parlors, to a boat off the coast of Italy, standing in the rain in the cobblestoned streets of London.

It’s all very romantic. I know I should feel sorry for poor Elizabeth, who suffered from a mysterious illness since she was a child, but with the way things are going in 2026, I honestly couldn’t help wishing I could be Elizabeth for a little while, lying on my velvet fainting couch with my loyal canine companion, dutifully downing spoonfuls of laudanum, poured by my own personal maid. Send for the carriage, Wilson! The summer has become entirely too hot. It’s time to head to the coast. …

This is the sort of book that makes you hope for a film adaptation, the kind that makes you Google the people it’s based on: What became of them? Which parts were fact and which were fiction?

If you do Google the subjects, you’ll find Vroman and Kemble did an amazing job. The illustrations are true to life, and the details are based closely on real events.

By the last page, I had tears in my eyes. “Not Death, But Love” is beautiful, but also haunting and sad.

It is based on Elizabeth’s life, but the book’s themes are universal; we all grieve our lost loved ones, wishing we had more time, or even a message from the beyond. And we have all yearned for love we didn’t receive, whether from a family member or a crush. And yes, sometimes we mourn someone who should have loved us but didn’t. Love is complicated, and so is death.

“Not Death, But Love” will be released on Sept. 22, and is available for pre-order. For more information: Not Death, But Love — Turner Publishing

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