There was a terrible moment in Saturday’s Guardian, to which I cannot link because it involved something that was not there. The Tamara Drewe strip, done by Posy Simmonds, had suddenly vanished after 80 episodes as the story approached its climax. This is a genuine graphic novel, published in instalments, about real and phony emotions. It is as brilliant as any previous Posy strip, and much better, in my opinion, than Gemma Bovery.
Apparently thay have been deluged with calls and letters from disappointed readers. But there is an explanation. Posy is on holiday. The strip will resume in September. Apparently there was an explanation, printed in one line under the colour photograph where the strip should have been. I’m very glad I wasn’t the only reader to miss this and panic.
It was terrible – I only bought the bloody paper on saturday for Tamara Drewe, as the Indy looked more interesting, and then it wasn’t there. Searched the entire Review but I did think to look for a ‘Posy Simmonds is on holiday’ before hyperventilating. Of course by then all the pages were crumpled so no chance of trying to take it back to the newsagent to swap… 🙂
I’m addicted too. Simmons says that the plot is an updating of a Thomas Hardy story,
and it’s certainly an inevitable rural tragedy, but which story is it copped from?
It’s Far From The Madding Crowd . Tamara as Bathsheba, Nick as Boldwood, and Andy is dependable Gabriel Oak. Ben and Jody echo – I guess – the unfortunate coupling of Sergeant Troy and Fanny. If you don’t know the original, I won’t elaborate, but there’s a fair bit of tragic justice (and injustice, being Hardy) to come before a happy-ish ending. Can’t wait, myself.