Translated by Tom Papademetriou, Ph.D. 2001.

A journey in time … a previous refugee crisis in the Mediterranean … the momentous historical events of 1922 seen through the eyes of third and fourth-generation descendants of those who lived and died through them.

This graphic novel dramatically tells the story of Greeks and Turks living as neighbors in the town of Aivali and other places along the Aegean Sea during the late Ottoman Empire; their subsequent expulsion from their ancestral homelands during a population exchange of Greeks and Turks in 1922, known to Greeks as "The Catastrophe" or the “Asia Minor Disaster”; and their subsequent lives as refugees.

Reviews and Endorsements

“A wonderful book. As a talented story-teller and draftsman, Soloup proves to us that no series of events is too complex to be explained in simple drawings.” From the Introduction by Bruce Clark, author of Twice a Stranger

“Following in the footsteps of Art Spiegelman, Marjane Satrapi, Joe Sacco, or Jacques Tardi, Soloup, against the background of blood-stained chapters of History, focuses on human tragedy.” Kathimerini (Greece)

“A beautiful reflection on the creation of identities and the relevance of borders.” Science & Vie Guerres & Histoire (France)

“A contemporary mirror of historical tragedies that, on this land we live on, tend to somehow repeat themselves, like a broken record.” Radikal Kitap (Turkey)

“Poetic from first page to last, without ever ceasing to be accurate and perfectly documented.” L’ avis des bulles (France)

“Served by a realistic and expressive drawing, the whole is generous and touching.” DBD (France)

“A graphic novel about two motherlands, it bridges the two shores of the Aegean Sea.” Agos (Turkey)