MADreads

Shocking goings on at the writer’s retreat

January 12th, 2009 Dennis - Central

Posy Simmonds is a new discovery for me.  She is a British author of children’s books and comic strips that wind up getting collected and published as graphic novels.  Her latest work, Tamara Drewe, takes place at a writer’s retreat run by a middle-aged couple, best-selling novelist (and serial philanderer) Nicholas Hardiman and his superbly-efficient wife Beth.  Amongst the guests is an American academic/author, Glen Larson.  Glen is struggling with writer’s block and feelings of inadequacy (professional and otherwise) around Nicholas.  The bucolic setting is tended to by Andy, the handsome young local who’s been helped back on his feet by Beth after a failed romance left him reeling.

Enter Tamara Drewe.  Tamara inherits the farmhouse next door, once owned by Andy’s family, who were forced to sell when his father couldn’t make a go of it.  Tamara’s been working in London as a newspaper columnist (”Away from it all” by Tamara Drewe) and has returned with a newly reshaped nose and proceeds to charm everyone in sight.  Glen’s rather pathetic attempts at charm are quickly rebuffed but Andy is just as rapidly smitten, to the point where he’s soon spending more time helping her fix up her home that working for Beth and Nicholas.  Nicholas seems stand-offish but it seems he isn’t immune to her charms, either, having once made a half-hearted effort at seduction when she was working as a publicist during one of his book tours.

Tamara sidesteps them all, landing a former rock star named Ben, recently kicked out of his band, and still obsessing over his former love (and band-mate).  Ben seems happy enough with Tamara and she with him (she notes in her newspaper column she’s thinking of marrying) although he detests the country setting and the respect accorded the writers in residence next door.  The writers tend to reciprocate those feelings pretty quickly.

Problems ensue.  Relationships are shaken, trust shattered, police investigate, and some truths are hidden from the light of day.  It’s a pretty enthralling tale that kept my interest throughout.

I should note that this is one of those graphic novels that’s more text-heavy than your typical superhero comic book.  The story is so rich and nuanced that the words need to carry more of the story than graphics and text balloons can easily manage.  The art is never overwhelming, in fact, the colors are often muted.  This gives the words the type of primacy that most graphic novels don’t while still retaining the subtlety that pictures alone can provide–the arch of an eyebrow or a hidden smile or scowl.

Give this one a try.

Entry Filed under: Graphic Novel, Literary Fiction