Part Mar­jane Satrapi’s Perse­po­lis, and Art Spiegelman’s Maus, Dani­la Botha’s pow­er­ful debut graph­ic nov­el, fol­lows young Vidal who grows up in Tiberias (Ottoman Empire and then British Man­date Pales­tine) and moves to Paris to pur­sue his art and free­dom and gets trapped there dur­ing World War II. Dani­la Botha traces the steps of Vidal’s life through Cha­gal­lian vignettes, from his Sephardic upbring­ing in Tiberias to stud­ies in the Tech­nion in Haifa, his artis­tic life in Paris, his work with the under­ground resis­tance, and his ulti­mate arrest and time in Auschwitz.

Poignant­ly cap­tur­ing the Sephardic Jew­ish expe­ri­ence, like Vidal and his fam­i­ly, the author’s fam­i­ly were fifth gen­er­a­tion Moroc­can Jews who grew up speak­ing both Hebrew and Ara­bic and coex­ist­ing with their neigh­bours and friends.

A rich artis­tic and cul­tur­al expe­ri­ence, Vidal brings to light the untold sto­ries of fam­i­ly, hope, free­dom, and what their pur­suit can cost. Vidal reminds us all that it’s pos­si­ble for things to be different.