Overview

Britain's favourite graphic novelist returns with her best book yet ***WINNER OF THE COMEDY WOMEN IN PRINT PRIZE 2020*** 'Simmonds is a copper-bottomed genius... she is as brilliant a writer as Britain has' Jenny Colgan, Mail Online Cassandra Darke is an art dealer, mean, selfish, solitary by nature, living in Chelsea in a house worth e7 million. She has become a social pariah, but doesn't much care. Between one Christmas and the next, she has sullied the reputation of a West End gallery and has acquired a conviction for fraud, a suspended sentence and a bank balance drained by lawsuits. On the scale of villainy, fraud seems to Cassandra a rather paltry offence - her own crime involving 'no violence, no weapon, no dead body'. But in Cassandra's basement, her young ex-lodger, Nicki, has left a surprise, something which implies at least violence and probably a body . . . Something which forces Cassandra out of her rich enclave and onto the streets. Not those local streets paved with gold and lit with festive glitter, but grimmer, darker places, where she must make the choice between self-sacrifice and running for her life.

Full Product Details

9780224089098

Table of Contents

Reviews

[Posy Simmonds] is back with a new anti-heroine... [and] jewel-sharp illustrations. -- Claire Armitstead * Guardian * In Simmonds's latest nuanced, warm-hearted satire a heartless art dealer makes a discovery that pushes her out of grim rut and into a dark quest. * Guardian, 50 of the Biggest Books to Look Out For in Autumn 2018 *

Simmonds is a copper-bottomed genius... she is as brilliant a writer as Britain has. -- Jenny Colgan * Mail Online * Scrooge is reimagined for 21st-century London in Posy Simmonds's devilishly good graphic novel, Cassandra Darke - her first in a decade. Cassandra is a marvellous creation... There is too much clever detail in each of the panels to take in everything at first read - but Cassandra is an antiheroine you'll want to return to. -- Siobhan Murphy * The Times * Simmonds has long been something of a national treasure. -- Teddy Jamieson * Herald Scotland * [This] glorious, inky black tale about a mean-spirited old bag of a Chelsea art deal provides more proof of [Posy Simmond's] genius. -- Rachel Cooke * Observer, **Books of the Year** * The new graphic novel by cartoonist, writer and national treasure Posy Simmonds... is a page-turner, [but] it's impossible to gallop through words and pictures that are so richly textured, so sharply observed. -- Francis Wheen * Mail on Sunday * A Christmas crime story that's bags of fun... Simmonds' pictorial storytelling is a joy. -- Anthony Cummins * Metro * Simmonds' drawings are exquisitely observed, and seamlessly incorporate text messages and online news reports. Her muted palette, with occasional splashes of colour, is absorbing and in the curmudgeonly Cassandra... Simmonds has produced another character that comes living and breathing off the page. -- Carl Wilkinson * Financial Times * Posy Simmonds's delightful new graphic novel Cassandra Darke, full of wonderfully observed vignettes... [is] treasurable. -- David Sexton * Evening Standard **Books of the Year** * [Posy Simmonds] is back with a new anti-heroine... [and] jewel-sharp illustrations. -- Claire Armitstead * Guardian * Posy Simmonds is the mother of the British graphic novel... The end [of Cassandra Darke] is startlingly poignant, and like all good satire it has a quiet reflection on human mortality at its heart. -- Lucy Lethbridge * Tablet *

Simmonds is a copper-bottomed genius... she is as brilliant a writer as Britain has; a Thackery. -- Jenny Colgan * Mail Online * Posy Simmonds [is] one of the most wickedly hilarious people it's possible to imagine. -- Rachel Cooke * Observer * Scrooge is reimagined for 21st-century London in Posy Simmonds's devilishly good graphic novel, Cassandra Darke - her first in a decade. Cassandra is a marvellous creation... There is too much clever detail in each of the panels to take in everything at first read - but Cassandra is an antiheroine you'll want to return to. -- Siobhan Murphy * The Times * The new graphic novel by cartoonist, writer and national treasure Posy Simmonds... is a page-turner, [but] it's impossible to gallop through words and pictures that are so richly textured, so sharply observed. Even in a crowd scene, each facial expression tells a story. -- Francis Wheen * Mail on Sunday * Simmonds returns with a Christmas crime story that's bags of fun... Simmonds' pictorial storytelling is a joy. -- Anthony Cummins * Metro * Simmonds' drawings are exquisitely observed, and seamlessly incorporate text messages and online news reports. Her muted palette, with occasional splashes of colour, is absorbing and in the curmudgeonly Cassandra...Simmonds has produced another character that comes living and breathing off the page. -- Carl Wilkinson * Financial Times * [Posy Simmonds] is back with a new anti-heroine... [and] jewel-sharp illustrations. -- Claire Armitstead * Guardian * Posy Simmonds is the mother of the British graphic novel... The end [of Cassandra Darke] is startlingly poignant, and like all good satire it has a quiet reflection on human mortality at its heart. -- Lucy Lethbridge * Tablet * What a huge treat awaits the readers of this book... [Cassandra Darke] makes one pause in awe to consider the sheet amount of wit, invention, insight, observation, skill, dedication and care that has been distilled into this 94 pages. -- Matthew Sturgis * The Oldie * In Simmonds's latest nuanced, warm-hearted satire a heartless art dealer makes a discovery that pushes her out of grim rut and into a dark quest. * Guardian, 50 of the Biggest Books to Look Out For in Autumn 2018 *

In Simmonds's latest nuanced, warm-hearted satire a heartless art dealer makes a discovery that pushes her out of grim rut and into a dark quest. * Guardian, 50 of the Biggest Books to Look Out For in Autumn 2018 *

Posy Simmonds [is] one of the most wickedly hilarious people it's possible to imagine. -- Rachel Cooke * Observer * [Posy Simmonds] is back with a new anti-heroine... [and] jewel-sharp illustrations. -- Claire Armitstead * Guardian * In Simmonds's latest nuanced, warm-hearted satire a heartless art dealer makes a discovery that pushes her out of grim rut and into a dark quest. * Guardian, 50 of the Biggest Books to Look Out For in Autumn 2018 * Simmonds' drawings are exquisitely observed, and seamlessly incorporate text messages and online news reports. Her muted palette, with occasional splashes of colour, is absorbing and in the curmudgeonly Cassandra...Simmonds has produced another character that comes living and breathing off the page. -- Carl Wilkinson * Financial Times *

Author Information

Posy Simmonds is the author of many books for adults and children, including Gemma Bovery, Lulu and the Flying Babies and Fred, the film of which was nominated for an Oscar. She has won international awards for her work, including the 2009 Grand prix de la critique bande dessinee for Tamara Drewe and the 2024 Grand Prix at France's Angoulame International Comics festival for a lifetime's achievement. Both Gemma Bovery and Tamara Drewe have been made into successful feature films. Her third graphic novel, Cassandra Darke was published in 2018. She lives in London.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available