Bazar u puntíkaté zebry – Giordano Raphaëllee (2022)

Genius inventor Basil Vega returns to his hometown of Mont-Venus and opens an unusual shop called the Spotted Zebra Bazaar. He offers amusing mechanical toys for people of all ages, designed to bring joy while developing thought and personality. Full of humour and poetry, his creations trigger emotions, feelings and reflections, turning the shop into a place for living and dreaming and disturbing the calm of the conventional little town. One of Basil’s first customers is Arthur, a frustrated fifteen-year-old who does not fit into small-town life. To express his creativity and anger at a system he cannot fit into, he turns to graffiti, much to the despair of his mother Giulia. A talented perfumer and single mother, Giulia has been unable to move on two years after her husband’s departure and feels demotivated by her repetitive job at a deodorant company. Basil forms an unlikely friendship with Arthur and later with Giulia. Their relationship grows stronger after Louisa catches Arthur with a stencil and spray can and calls the police. Basil helps him deal with the police and court and offers him a part-time job in the shop. Louisa, a respected citizen, editor-in-chief of the local paper and narrow-minded critic of anything outside the norm, launches a campaign against Basil and places the Bazaar on a blacklist. As the story unfolds, the characters confront their hidden frustrations, weaknesses and pain, admit them to themselves and begin to see others more compassionately. Basil’s diary at the end offers a clear guide to changing one’s life for the better. The book is in Czech.