Second frames of the third pages of part I and part II:

(First frame: Sofie’s mother says, “AHA! Madam is home!”)

I’m always on the lookout for good Flemish graphic novels, given that Belgium’s tradition is generally strong and not entirely Francophone, and I think this counts as a decent find. De maagd en de neger comes in two parts, the first telling the story from the point of view of the father of Flemish student Sofie of his unhappy accommodation to her relationship with Togolese refugee Abou, and the second with Sofie, years later, telling her side of the same story to Leentje, her daughter by a later relationship. Of course, it’s a white-people-talking-about-black-people story, but it’s tenderly observed for all that. Sofie’s father’s personal journey is particularly affecting, and I always like stories where the same events are viewed from two different perspectives, getting two very different answers.

This came to the top of my list of unread graphic novels in a language other than English. Next on that list is De Mexicaan met twee hoofden, by Joann Sfarr, which I should really have got in the original French.