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Like a Breath
by Ferzan Ozpetek
A touching novel about memory and regret between Rome and Instanbul. On a Sunday morning like many others, Sergio and Giovanna have invited their best friends over for lunch. While waiting for their guests , a stranger shows up at their door asking to see the house. She explains that she used to live there many years ago and that she came all the way from Istanbul. Elsa (that’s the name of the stranger) carries in her bag a bundle of old letters to her sister Adele, that no one has ever opened. Who is Elsa, that strange woman? And why Adele did not even open her letters? What mystery is hidden beyond the kitchen window that Elsa keeps staring at? The narrative has a double point of view of sisters Adele and Elsa, flashing back to the rift that estranged them decades before. The majority of the book consists of Elsa’s letters from the late 1960, alternating with Adele’s recollection from the present, and the interplay between the two is poignant indeed, revealing only in the end how the two sisters had experienced the traumatic love to the same person in very different ways.
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I Will Fall, while Dreaming of Flying
by Fabio Genovesi
A novel about the marvellous madness of cycling Fabio is twenty-four years old and studies law, even though his heart isn’t really in it. One day he is sent to the mountains to do community service as an alternative to the draft and is assigned to a retirement home for old priests, run by an eighty-year-old former missionary: a gruff and moody man who barely leaves his room having lost interest in everything. Nonetheless they share passion for cycling and start watching the Giro d’Italia together, identifying in Marco Pantani the incarnation of a dream: a brave man, tormented and alone, facing colossal champions. Thanks to this marvellous madness, Fabio and Don Basagni will find in themselves the courage buried within them to question the solid, reliable existence they were accustomed to put up with.
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FictionJanuary 2019The Memory of Bodies
by Marina Di Guardo
Living like an hermit in his luxurious family mansion, Giorgio is a former lawyer in his forties. His mother died in a car accident, his father committed suicide, and the only connection he has with the real world is Agnese, the housemaid that raised him up.Everything changes when Giorgio runs into Giulia, and the two get tangled-up in a very hot, ambiguous relationship.The day that Agnese goes missing, the net begins to close in around Giulia and her lies. But Giorgio is hiding some unimaginable, dark secrets of his own...
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FictionOctober 2019Corpi di ballo
by Francesca Marzia Esposito
Anita is one of the two top dancers at the prestigious Karen Holmes Dance Academy. The other is Miriam: coordinated, expressive, toned and charismatic. In Anita’s eyes, she is perfect. The two girls share not only their apartment, but also the hours spent within the white, sterile walls of the Academy. Under constant scrutiny, each girl has adopted her own methods to restrain herself from eating; for them, dancing comes first. Everything else is secondary. The rest of Anita’s life is made up of her mother, her older brother Toni – a man in his forties with an obsessive disorder and a newfound passion for iguanas – and her childhood best friend, Nina. Summer has just begun, and with it, the rehearsals for Holmes’ latest production: Ondine. The Academy’s director distorts and experiments with the show, her approach even more cryptic than usual; as always, Anita follows her instructions without question. But everything is about to change. On a day like any other, Miriam collapses, never to regain consciousness. Anita’s life grinds to a halt, incapable of facing the event that has brought her perfectly-organised world crashing down around her. It is thanks to the oddities of her brother, a nameless young girl, Bruno (the mysterious nighttime visitor), and, mainly, to a strength she never knew she possessed, that Anita is able to start again; but it throws into question everything she has ever known. With a writing style capable of capturing even the most minute nuances, and filling the silences surrounding them, Francesca Marzia Esposito’s novel is an emotional and challenging insight into the world of dance. Her story reveals not only the intricacies of its darker sides, but also the obsession in its search for perfection: a perfection which almost never leads to happiness.
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FictionNovember 2020In Good Times and Bad
by Marina Di Guardo
Irene, thirty-four years old, has been living for a long time as a hostage of her husband Gianluigi, a jealous and violent manager. After the umpteenth black eye and thanks to her friend Alice, Irene loads her young daughter in the car and escapes from Milan. She finds shelter in her parents’ old house in a small town in the countryside. The woman hopes to put the pieces of her life together again, but Gianluigi tracks her down and orders her to return to the city, threatening repercussions - and not just from his lawyers. Irene starts to lose her nerve, but she discovers unexpected allies in town: an old neighbour, a shopkeeper with a soft spot for her, and her husband’s ex-girlfriend who is seeking revenge. Soon, however, some disturbing incidents threaten her fragile serenity. Everything collapses when someone protecting her from Gianluigi is found brutally murdered...
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Everything Needs to Be Saved
by Daniele Mencarelli
A deep, moving and sweet novel Daniele is twenty years old when he has a violent outburst of rage and is involuntarily committed into a psychiatric ward for a week. It is June 1994. Throughout this experience, which feels like a delirious summer camp in a circle of hell, Daniele is flanked by his roommates, a bunch of disturbing and sweet characters and yet day by day, interviewed by indifferent doctors, taken in care by frightened nurses, they all share an unexpected sense of brotherhood and a sincere need of supporting each other. In the depth of their madness shines a powerful humanity, which Mencarelli is able to voice with unique tenderness and strength.
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La disciplina di Penelope
by Gianrico Carofiglio
An unsolved murder and a man in search of the truth.A tough and fragile woman.The chance to get back into the game. Penelope wakes up in a stranger’s house, after yet another wasted night. She leaves silently and alone, through the livid streets of the autumn in Milan. She used to be a prosecutor, then a mysterious accident dramatically ended her career. One day a man comes to see her, he was investigated for the murder of his wife. The case was dismissed but did not cancel the terrible suspicions from which it had arisen. The man asks her to take over the case and to restore his lost honour. He wants to know what to say to his daughter, a little girl, when she will grow up and enquire about her mother. Penelope, after an initial refusal, lets herself be convinced by the insistence of an old friend of hers, a crime reporter. A breathtaking investigation winds its way through unknown streets of the city and memories of a life that does not return. Gianrico Carofiglio creates a female figure with epic traits. A woman full of anger and painful humanity. A character who remains in our hearts, well beyond the last page and the unexpected ending. “When the first idea for the story came up, the character was already in her city. For the drama of the plot, I needed the scenario with the most metropolitan spirit that we have in Italy”. Gianrico Carofiglio, 7
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2020Dance Factor
by Aurora Marsotto
When the dance teacher announces that she’s entered her students in the Young Dance Competition, everyone is thrilled! Well…, almost everyone. Alice is twelve and, even though she’s done ballet for five years, she’s never gotten over her stage fright. Of course, what happened last year – when she turned right and everyone else turned left… right there… right in front of everyone… – only made things worse! So, just forget it! There’s no way Alice is going on stage! That is, unless Leonardo, who’s just joined the class, can change her mind…
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2020Sherlock, Lupin & I
Last Dance, Mr Holmes
by Irene M. Adler
London, 1919 - It’s been fifty years since Sherlock and Lupin last solved a case together. Irene Adler has come back to track down her once inseparable friends, now a great detective and the other a gentleman thief. Irene and her adoptive daughter Mila will bring the trio back together into a world of thrills, intrigue, and breakneck chases.
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Pinocchio
Story of a puppet
by Carlo Collodi
Alberto Longoni was an Italian artist, who started to work in 1935 as self-taught artist after the death of both his parents. He won several awards during his career and he worked for several publishers. One of his remarkable works was designing the cover jackets of the Classics of Italian contemporary literature series during the 60s, for Arnoldo Mondadori Editore. In 1963, the first edition of his Pinocchio was published. It was a limited edition as a gift for the employees of Midy, an Italian drugmaker company.The basic, black ink, single lined illustrations of Longoni give new life to the classic by Carlo Collodi, designing a new revisited Pinocchio that will stick in the readers’ minds.
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February 2020THE ILLUSTRATORS SURVIVAL GUIDE
2nd edition - new contents
by AA.VV.
The Illustrators Survival Guide is back in an extended version with a new chapter dedicated to editorial illustration and an expansion on the theme of the portfolio, and tries to give an answer to the many "How do you do that?" in creative, design and market management. How to make a cover, how to contact an art director, how to use social media for self-promotion. With texts by Ivan Canu (director Mimaster Illustrazione) and Giacomo Benelli (educational coordinator Mimaster Illustrazione) and tips from internationally renowned art directors, publishers and illustrators such as Matt Dorfman, Emiliano Ponzi, Riccardo Vecchio, Noma Bar, Katsumi Komagata, Beatrice Alemagna, The Illustrators Survival Guide is the first in a series of books dedicated to the publishing professions, in collaboration with Fondazione Arnoldo and Alberto Mondadori.
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Food & DrinkWITH YOU IN THE KITCHEN
by Benedetta Rossi
Benedetta Rossi in the last years has climbed the best-selling lists, gaining herselfhundreds of thousands of readers and becoming a real editorial phenomenon. “I was born in the countryside, where I grew up and still live, in a house set on the green hills facing the sea. I have drawn my passion for home cooking from my parents’ countryside traditions. My recipes originate from Grandma’s advices, from the flavours of my childhood, from my friends’ requests, from my experimentations. In a word, they come from my family story and from my daily life”Benedetta Rossi’s authenticity and the simplicity of her cooking have conquered a huge public, making her a real bench stone for those who want to get in the kitchen with passion and love.In her books she explains us countless recipes, starting from the great classics to new preparations, taking us by the hand to prepare delicious snacks, first and second courses and desserts.But there’s more than that: Benedetta delivers cooking tricks and solves kitchen emergencies, gives advice on cooking tools and offers us menus for any occasion, with the most delicious and yet simplest dishes.Last but not least, she turns into your best friend by helping you to save the evening and get out the best from what’s left in your fridge!
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Food & DrinkSWEET ITALY
My traditional desserts
by Iginio Massari
The world famous Italian Pastry Chef. Winner of the Gold Metal in the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie Forty-seven Italian cities, ranging from the North to the South. Forty-seven traditional desserts, selected by Iginio Massari with Debora Massari,in a journey to the discovery of Italian dessert masterpieces. Each recipe is introduced by a detailed text retracing the history, the legends and quirks of the gastronomic culture of each city touched in the book. Discover the flavors, aromas and traditions of ancient towns and cities of art, taking a fascinating journey through the charms of Italy with a master chef as guide.
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L'età ridicola
by Margherita Giacobino
At almost ninety, the old woman lives alone in Turin with her elderly cat Veleno, a human-friendly feline, and with the memories of a love affair that has ended (her partner, the beloved Nora, died many years ago); she has nothing to do but keep track of the new pains in her bones, listen to the radio news of violence and catastrophes - murders, bombs in airports, droughts - and chat with her friend and coetaneous Malvina, increasingly forgetful and lost on the crowded paths of dementia. The old woman is definitely tired of living, tired 'like an old cemetery earthworm', but luckily in her day there is Gabriela, a lump of hard-working youth from Eastern Europe who has survived a ramshackle family odyssey. And in Gabriela's life, besides a string of terrible relatives trying to extort as much money from her as possible, there is her cousin Dorin, a would-be terrorist actively engaged in terrorising her, Gabriela, who refuses to marry him. In a constant loving dialogue with death (she has even tried to die on command, like the Eastern sages, but failed), the old woman is still full of energy, and takes care of what love remains to her: the decrepit Veleno and her fading friend, who has meanwhile been deported by her snake-like relatives to a rest home. And when dark threats loom over Gabriela, the arthritic old lioness doesn't think twice about unleashing her claws to defend what is dear to her
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Vulnerabili (Vulnerable)
by Paolo Crepet
It happened suddenly: a virus shocked the whole world and took away our freedom in an instant. Everything has changed, they told us to stay home and there we discovered how difficult it is to live together, to resist, to keep hope alive. After the fleeting euphoria of singing from our balconies, we discovered a collective fear that in some cases has become panic, terror. Our certainties have wavered and, together with the daily death toll, so have our hopes. The most advanced part of the world, the technological and scientific West, has suddenly become breakable and imperfect. But not all evils come to harm: some teach us something. The epidemic has forced us within four walls, but in doing so it has allowed us to slow down and take a breath, to rediscover habits and dreams abandoned in a drawer during the frenzied daily race and, therefore, to get to know each other more. We have found that we are far less strong than we thought. We have found we are vulnerable. But it is precisely from this vulnerability that we must and can start again, accepting our weaknesses and our limitations, hoping that the virus has killed arrogance. The delusion of omnipotence that had clouded our minds, which had made us oblivious to climate change, pollution, economic and social inequalities, perhaps, has fallen forever. In this book with an intense, poetic and meticulous prose, Paolo Crepet analyzes what happened during the months of lockdown and the slow restart, and what awaits us in a present still threatened by the virus. He focuses on the need for change, which for him means “not killing the hope of having a future other than the one we deserved.” Not just an essay, but also a journey within us, to find out what humanity must save and what changes are needed to safeguard our tomorrow.
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October 2020Lynn Wolflynn
The Curse of the Full Moon
by Cristina Marsi
There’s a legend in Lynn’s family. Many years ago, her great-grandpop was bitten by a wolf. This means that, sooner or later, a werewolf will be born into the family. Lynn’s nasty little brothers, Tobias and Matthew, are convinced that they’re the chosen ones. But when, on the night of her eighth birthday, the light of a full moon shines down on Lynn... Well, maybe her brothers are wrong! Lynn who now calls herself Wolflynn, runs off into the forest behind her house. She’s immediately chased by a big, hungry she-wolf! But it turns out that she only wants a cuddle! For the young werewolf, it’s a night she’ll never forget. And only the first of many to come.
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September 2020My Grandfather Was a Monkey
by Gianumberto Accinelli
It sometimes happens when you’re 11 that you’ll go through a bit of a rough patch. And Sebastiano is no exception. Everything changes, though, when he discovers a cave full of weird creatures and wonderful visions. By listening to ancient stories, Sebastiano and his friends eventually understand the path that led them to what they are right here, right now.
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The Wolf’s Son
by Romana Petri
The sumptuously imagined novel of Jack London Romana Petri seized one of the most fascinating challenges that an author could undertake: writing the fury of living of a man who was a boxer, a seal hunter, an insurance agent, a gold prospector; a man who loved the blue shade of the forest and the dazzling radiance of the sea, who looked at the soul of populations fighting and at the heart of women. And women are the true engine of the story: the petty-bourgeois fragrance of Mabel, the concreteness of Bessie, the intellectual charm of Anna Strunsky, the determination of Charmain (“to be many women in one”), the irreplaceability of his sister Eliza. Then again, what Romana Petri wrote is not a biography. Figlio del lupo (lit. “The Wolf’s Son”) is a novel based on a true story. It’s the story of the characters whom we loved; the story of a man suspended between the great narrator and the socialist who wants to talk like a revolutionary to seven million workers, but who also can’t resist having his shoe laces tied for him because he has no time to lose; the story of a man suspended between the game of love promised, experienced, betrayed, always at high temperatures, and the torment of an impending failure.
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Humanities & Social SciencesThe black sea of indifference
by Liliana Segre / Filippo Civati
Liliana Segre’s testimony and her political message are shared in this essay by Giuseppe Civati that reports her words and her teachings, on the occasion of her appointment as lifetime Italian Senator by Italian President Sergio Mattarella.Segre was expelled from school in 1938. She tried to flee Italy as an asylum seeker but was denied protection and was sent back. On January 30th, 1944 she was deported to Auschwitz with her father Alberto, who deceased in the concentration camp. In the last thirty years she has been promoting an extraordinary campaign against indifference and against racism in any form or aspect.Her undisputed, strong and clear words are a message for girls and boys, her «ideal grandchildren»: we must never lose our rights and respect for people.
