On a tiny lighthouse island far from the rest of the world, a hermit lives out his existence. Every week a supply boat leaves provisions, yet the fishermen never leave their boat, and never meet him. Years spent on this deserted rock, with imagination his sole companion, has made the lighthouse keeper something more than alone, something else entirely. For him, what lies beyond the horizon might be... nothing. And so, why would you ever want to leave? But, one day, as curiosity gets the better of him, a new boatman steps onto the island.

Intertwining tenderness, despair, and humour, Alone captures how someone can be an everyman, and every man is someone.

Gila, 26, was at a party when the police showed up. The men were able to get away with bribes, but the women were taken to the station, and anyone who'd been drinking was forced to submit to a virginity test. She never went to another party after that. Zeinab is 20 and she loves being a woman in Iran. She says that she feels like a queen! And despite all the risks, she confesses that she makes love with her boyfriend because the danger excites her. Vahid is 26. He was a leader with the Green Movement. Then he watched his friend Neda die right in front of him. Now he keeps his head down, trying to finish his studies. In a series of vignettes based on clandestine interviews, this award-winning graphic novel explores the politics and love lives of ten young Iranian men and women from diverse backgrounds. The result is an honest portrait of Iranian youth today and a rare glimpse into a society where the sexes are strictly segregated-and Western journalists aren't welcome. Through testimonies from across the country, we learn about traditional marriages, the pressures of living under the regime, and how young people escape the police and defy tradition to live their love stories.

For some, he was a villain. For others, a hero. Based on a true story, Once Upon a Time in France follows the life of Joseph Joanovici, a Romanian Jew who immigrated to France in the 1920s and became one of the richest men in Europe as a scrap-metal magnate. During the German occupation of France, he thought his influence could keep his family safe, but he soon finds that the only way to stay one step ahead of the Nazis is to keep his friends close and his enemies closer. Though he plays both sides of the fence as a Nazi collaborator and French resistant, a tangled web of interests forms around him that proves it will take a lot more than money to pay for the survival of his family. An international bestseller with over 1 million copies sold, the French series Once Upon a Time in France, collected here in one omnibus edition, has won the BDGest'Art Best Scenario Award, BDGest'Arts Album of the Year, and Angouleme International Comics Festival Best Series Award, among many others.

The Algerian War of Independence (1954-62), also known as the Algerian Revolution, was a messy and vicious conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front. Waged primarily in Algeria, it severely traumatized citizens on both sides of the Mediterranean, and it continues to have a troubled legacy to this day. Inspired by real events, this poignantly narrated and beautifully illustrated graphic novel tells the story of this confrontation through female protagonists. Algeriennes follows the investigative efforts of Beatrice, the daughter of a French-Algerian War veteran. Beatrice's father was never able to talk about what he had experienced during the war. Wanting to know more about this part of her family's history, Beatrice sets off on a voyage of discovery that eventually leads her to Algiers. Along the way, she meets women who recount their experiences during the war. Saida was a child who made a harrowing escape with her family to France, only to end up in an internment camp. Djamila was a mujahidate rebel who fought alongside the men and witnessed firsthand the barbarity of war. Bernadette was a French woman who refused to leave Algeria after the conflict ended and was ostracized as a pied-noir. Malika was a terrorist bomber fighting on the side of the resistance. Over the course of the narrative, their stories intersect and complete one another, resulting in a powerful and moving picture of what both women and men lived through during the Algerian Revolution-and a clearer understanding of why these events have been, for so many, nearly impossible to discuss.

Madame Livingstone is based on the true story of the unlikely partnership between a Belgian and an African who were responsible for the sinking of a German battleship in the Congo during the First World War.

Aviator Gaston Mercier, lieutenant in the Royal Belgian Army, arrives at Lake Tanganyika, Congo in 1915 on orders to sink a critical German warship, the Graf Von Götzen. To find out the ship’s exact position, he is assigned a guide, an enigmatic, mixed-race African and the supposed son of the famous explorer David Livingstone who is nicknamed “Mrs. Livingstone” for the Scottish kilt he wears. Little by little, while the war between Belgian and German colonial powers rages on and the pair hunt down the Graf Von Götzen, the young Belgian pilot learns more about the land around him from Mrs. Livingstone and discovers the irrevocable and tragic effects of colonialism on the local people.

A historical fiction story of adventure and friendship against the backdrop of World War I in Africa, Madame Livingstone was originally published in France by Glénat in 2014. The graphic novel is authored by historian and comics specialist Christophe Cassiau-Haurie and Congo's unique beauty is presented in full color illustrations by beloved Congolese artist Barly Baruti.

The Attack opens with Amin Jaafari, an Israeli surgeon of Palestinian after the deadly attack, an Israeli police officer informs Jaafari that the suicide bomber was his wife, Sihem. Believing her to be on an overnight trip, he completely refuses to accept the accusation. They were leading an ideal life in Tel Aviv, moving among both Arab and Israeli society with ease, or so Jaafari thought. But then he receives a posthumous message from Sihem confirming the worst. Desperate to understand how he missed even the slightest clue, Jaafari leaves the relative security of Israel and enters the Palestinian territories to find the fanatics who recruited her. In search of the truth, he confronts a reality that he had refused to see. This book was first published as the French novel L'Attentat by Yasmina Khadra in 2005. One year later, L'Attentat was translated into English as The Attack and it garnered international praise: 'A fierce rendering of geopolitical tensions and a plea for peace' (The New York Times); 'Audaciously conceived, courageously important [and] urgently humane' (The Los Angeles Times). It was translated into more than 20 languages and sold over 600,000 copies. Then in 2012, the original French book went into graphic form with the release in 2012 of L'Attentat by Loic Dauvillier and Glen Chapron. This has now been translated into English by Ivanka Hahnenberger - the book featured here. The Attack is a poignant tragedy that mixes the intimacy of grief and betrayal with the futility of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It makes no judgment and takes no side. Chapron's masterful illustrations and astute text are wrought with the despair and hope of Jaafari's search. The raw humanity of the story raises more questions than can be answered. Timely and affecting, The Attack is an essential purchase.