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, and 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.
“A beautifully illustrated work of historical fiction that’s as touching as it is delightful.”
– Kirkus Reviews
“Vidal himself is flawed and that is important. We have a tendency to turn Holocaust survivors into saints but that does a disservice to them. Vidal is not an angel, and it is OK to say so. I mean, who could resist a blue-haired, blue-glasses femme fatale.”
– Natalie Fingerhut, The Seaboard Review of Books
“Art, love, the sensuality of food, fabrics, the sun, moon and stars are all beautifully illustrated and described—as are the unimaginable horrors of the Holocaust, portrayed with unflinching truth, sensitivity, and profound humanity.”
– Lisa de Nikolits
“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.”
– 49th Shelf
“Vidal by Danila Botha transcends classification. It is more than a graphic novel. It is a family history told with words and with pictures, underlined by the irony of being a fictionalised true story.”
– Canadian Jewish Literary Awards
“Vidal is one of the most powerful, moving, and respectful holocaust / Shoah narratives that I’ve ever encountered. The voice is true, the imagery explodes with a kind of joy that would do justice to the incredible character that Botha portrays. It left me both shattered and elevated at the same time. Thank you for this work.”
– Ken Krimstein, Cartoonist, The New Yorker
“Botha is a literary lioness on Canada’s literary landscape.”
– Stephen Patrick Clare, The Chronicle Herald
