BOOM! Studios has announced the new original graphic novel We Served the People: My Mother’s Stories, available in April 2020, from Eisner-nominated cartoonist Emei Burell as she breathes new life into the stories her mother shared of growing up in mid-1960s Communist China and discovers a connection to her family history and heritage.

In China, an entire generation’s most formative years took place in remote rural areas when city kids were sent to the countryside to become rusticated youth and partake in Mao’s mandated Great Leap Forward. In an inspiring tale, Emei’s mother, Yuan Ye Ping, recounts how she ended up as one of the few truck-driving women during the Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside Movement, which sought to increase agricultural outreach and spur social and ideological change amongst youth.

Burell’s stunning illustrations honor her mother’s courage, strength, and determination during a decade of tremendous political upheaval and introduces us to a young woman in a new era of self-discovery.