Judith Vanistendael – illustratör

The doctor's verdict is final: David has cancer. There is still a possibility of remission, but it is very small. And if the tumour kills him, David won't have a chance to see his baby granddaughter Louise grow up. We see his wife become progressively consumed by the looming shadow of death, in Vanistendael's sensitive portrayal of a family battling cancer.

Mikel lives with his wife and two children in Costur, an idyllic Spanish town surrounded by hills. He has a job selling confectionary, but Mikel is a dreamer, not a businessman, and money is tight. What’s more, the mundanity of small-town life is preventing him from fulfilling a life-long dream: to become a writer. Seeking both drama and financial security, Mikel takes a job as a bodyguard. His family is soon uprooted to the Basque country, where Mikel is charged with protecting politicians from the armed separatist group ETA. It is a job that provides drama worthy of the pagebut only at the cost of fear, uncertainty and family breakdown. In Mikel, author Mark Bellido draws on his own experiences to create a powerful and provocative story about a man who risks everything in the pursuit of a dream.