Fran Bow

Set in 1944, the plot tells the story of Fran, a ten-year-old girl struggling with mental illness after witnessing the violent murder of her parents. After being found alone in the woods, Fran is admitted to Oswald Asylum and separated from her black cat and only friend, Mr. Midnight. Under the care of psychiatrist Dr. Marcel Deern, Fran is administered pills. The pills cause vivid hallucinations of a phantasmagoric parallel universe, filling the Oswald Asylum with smears of blood, mysterious messages, grisly torture, human subject research in psychology and neurology, and otherworldly shadow beings. Driven to escape her imprisonment, find her cat and return home, Fran passes into this other world. Still searching for an explanation of her parents' murder, Fran finds herself transformed into a tree in a world called Ithersta, a land where vegetables, insects, pine cones, and roots live in harmony. After departing Ithersta, she encounters a giant skeletal creature named Itward. Itward helps Fran in her search for her cat. Throughout the story, Fran and other characters grapple with psychological trauma, survive the abuse of parents and doctors, and learn what it means to live amongst other humans and spirits.