Talking to Gina

When Gina came into Ottilie’s life she hadn’t expected to fall in love and thought that was all behind her. She was unprepared for the emotional turmoil that would overcome her. For a start, Gina was a fox – or that’s what people said she was. How could she become so in love with a dog – which didn’t even look like one – when she had a husband and two children of her own? As we follow Ottilie’s love affair with Gina, we identify with the emotions and share heart-stopping anxiety when Gina goes missing. Ottilie has no wish to disguise her own state of besotted affection, and this beautifully observed study of human and dog is viscerally real. It will appeal to anyone who has ever had a dog, cat, budgie – or even a fox. Talking to Gina, a debut graphic memoir, has been based on hundreds of daily drawn records of Ottilie Hainsworth’s life. Her command of facial expressions and body language, of both humans and dogs, combined with a beautifully simple and fluid penstroke, and the direct, heartfelt epistolary text, draw the reader in to feel her love and pain.