Gone Daddy Gone
Nicole Georges’ mom told her that her father died when Nicole was 3. She lied.
Illustration by Nicole Georges
For her 23rd birthday, a friend of the Portland cartoonist Nicole Georges treated her to a visit to a psychic, who hinted to her that her father was, counter everything her family had told her, still alive. In her tart, honest graphic memoir Calling Dr. Laura, Georges tells the story of how that soothsaying—true, as it turned out—changed her life, and forced her to confront (and come out to) her headstrong Midwestern mother.
Georges’ black-and-white artwork is wonderfully adaptable in Calling Dr. Laura. In scenes of her childhood her cartoons are deceptively primitive; in later scenes she uses detailed ink work to bring herself, her pets, her friends, and her lovers to life. We’re very excited to have Nicole Georges illustrating the January issue of the Slate Book Review.
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Calling Dr. Laura by Nicole Georges. Mariner.
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Dan Kois is a senior editor at Slate and a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine.