In Pieces (public library | IndieBound) is an uncommon piece of visual poetry by French illustrator and comic artist Marion Fayolle that calls to mind at once the surrealist whimsy of Codex Seraphinianus, the visual neatness of Gregory Blackstock’s illustrated lists, and the vignettes of Blexbolex — and yet Fayolle’s is a sensibility unlike anything that ever existed.

Sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, sometimes light, and sometimes deeply philosophical, Fayolle’s beautiful wordless narratives are anything but silent, speaking of love and loss, passion and betrayal, longing and lust. They are fragmentary yet meaningful, much like the brain fuses together disjointed pieces of the world into a cohesive image, an impression, a story. There are no panels, no speech bubbles, no backgrounds — just tenderly illustrated, meticulously textured, neatly arranged figures who explore the microcosm of human relations through subtle yet expressive body language that whispers to the back of the mind.

In Pieces comes from the wonderful British independent press Nobrow, which also gave us Freud’s life and legacy in a comic, Blexbolex’s brilliant No Man’s Land, and some gorgeous illustrated chronicles of aviation and the Space Race.