Much like Simmonds’ Tamara Drewe, this is a story of a woman whose life doesn’t quite get to be her own. Gemma is maybe a bit bored and dissatisfied with her marriage and living in France isn’t the fantasy she had in mind, but it’s Joubert’s continuing fascination with her, even after her death, that turns her into the literary heroine Joubert wants her to be. By reading her diaries, Joubert is trying to reconstruct her life and love affairs into a narrative that suits him.
The Revision: Gemma Bovery
