5,000 km per second (2016)

2011 winner: Cinquemila chilometri al secondo Manuele Fior follows Piero and Lucia from a teenage crush in Italy through years spent apart in different countries, and each stretch of their lives is painted in its own watercolor palette, so you feel time passing in the color before anyone says a word. It is a book about distance and missed chances rather than grand events. Fantagraphics published it in English as 5,000 km Per Second, and it is the romance to pick from this shelf.