Rights List 2014
Transcription
Rights List 2014
Foreign Rights Manager Emanuela Canali ARNOLDO MONDADORI EDITORE via Mondadori,1 20090 Segrate-Milano canali@mondadori.it tel. +39.02.7542.3167 fax +39.02.7542.3047 Foreign Rights Assistant Nadia Colombo ARNOLDO MONDADORI EDITORE via Mondadori,1 20090 Segrate-Milano contratti1@mondadori.it tel. +39.02.7542.2384 fax +39.02.7542.3047 Rights List 2014 www.librimondadori.it COP_FRANKOFORTE 2014_ok.indd 1-2 23/09/14 16:53 Bianchi Marco Bignardi Daria Bisotti Massimo Brizzi Enrico Buttafuoco Pietrangelo Calabresi Mario Cavanna Alberto Cazzullo Aldo Celotto Alfonso Chinnici Caterina Cilento Antonella Citati Pietro Cobianchi Daniele Colombati Leonardo Crupi Stefano Culicchia Giuseppe De Maria Giusella De Santis Sergio Dix Gioele Evangelisti Valerio Franco Massimo Giacobbo Roberto La Spina Silvana Littizzetto Luciana Marangolo Antonio Io mi muovo L’amore che ti meriti Il quadro mai dipinto In piedi sui pedali I cinque funerali della signora Göring Senza mai voltarsi indietro L’ultimo viaggio dell’Imperatore La Guerra dei nostri nonni Il dott. Ciro Amendola, direttore della Gazzetta ufficiale È così lieve il tuo bacio sulla fronte Lisario o il piacere infinito delle donne I Vangeli La sindrome di Hugh Grant 1960 Cazzimma Tutti giù per terra (Remixed) Io non sono ipocondriaca L’opera viva Quando tutto questo sarà finito Chi ha del ferro ha del pane Il Vaticano secondo Francesco La donna Faraone La continentale Novità Complice lo specchio 42 3 25 19 13 47 39 44 7 50 9 37 30 15 20 18 24 11 52 28 48 26 8 33 17 Art director: Giacomo Callo Progetto grafico: Gianni Camusso Impaginazione: Elisabetta Bertani COP_FRANKOFORTE 2014_ok.indd 3-4 23/09/14 16:53 Marcoli Alba Marino Paolo Moresco Antonio Nicoletti Gianluca Parente Massimiliano Peronaci Sonia Ponte Giorgio Rampini Federico Ranno Tea Ravasi Gianfranco Ricolfi Luca Santagata Marco Sardo Carmelo - Grassonelli Giuseppe Sottile Salvo Stefanelli Maria Strukul Matteo Talmelli Raffaele - Regolo Luciano Tizian Giovanni Torregrossa Giuseppina Van Straten Giorgio Veloce Viola Vespa Bruno Villalta Gian Mario Würth Giorgia Zecchi Stefano Zoff Dino Franko 2014_ok.indd 1 La nonna è ancora morta? Strategie per arredare il vuoto Fiaba d’amore Alla fine qualcosa ci inventeremo Il più grande artista del mondo dopo Adolf Hitler Guarda che buono! Io sto con Marta All you need is love Viola Fòscari Le meraviglie dei Musei Vaticani L’enigma della crescita L’amoroso pensiero Malerba Cruel Loro mi cercano ancora La giostra dei fiori spezzati Il diavolo Il clan degli invisibili La miscela segreta di casa Olivares Storia d’amore in tempo di guerra Omicidi in pausa pranzo Italiani voltagabbana Satyricon 2.0 L’accarezzatrice Rose bianche a Fiume Dura solo un attimo la gloria 38 10 4 40 5 43 31 35 12 46 34 36 21 29 51 27 49 41 16 6 32 45 14 22 23 53 24/09/14 09:24 2 Franko 2014_ok.indd 2 24/09/14 09:24 LITERARY FICTION 247 pages October 2014 Daria Bignardi L’amore che ti meriti The Love You Deserve A guilt that changes the lives of a whole family. A daughter who delves into memories long forgotten Ferrara. Alma and Maio have just finished school, enjoying their evenings with friends. Alma and Maio are siblings, bound by deep affection and vitality, and by Michela, his girlfriend and her best friend. Life flows by serenely, indeed, happily: but they do not know how happy they are. One evening, Alma and Maio decide to try heroin. It was Alma who suggested it, but it was Maio who was never able to break free from the drug. Maio disappeared forever, swallowed up in a foggy night on the Po. Leaving not a trace. In Bologna, thirty years later, Antonia is a mystery writer, lovingly married to a police commissioner, and five months pregnant. Antonia is Alma’s only daughter, and for the first time her mother tells her about Maio’s disappearance, of that black hole that swallowed everything in her past. She heads back to Ferrara. In that too quiet, cozy, impermeable city, through a whirlwind of meetings, small glimmers of truth are exposed, slowly bringing to light a surprising truth that will free her mother from the weight of the opaque silence surrounding Maio’s death and will reveal more and more of herself. DARIA BIGNARDI (born in Ferrara), journalist and screenwriter, is the star of the popular TV talkshow “Le invasioni barbariche” and a columnist for “Vanity Fair”. In 2009 her debut novel Non vi lascerò orfani was a poignant literary case with 100,000 copies sold. Rights to her last novel L’acustica perfetta were sold in France/Ed. Les Escales; Brasil/Bertrand; Netherlands/Cargo; Argentina/ Edhasa; Serbia/Evro Giunti; Slovenia/Mladinska Knijga; Albania/Dudaj; Turkey/Kirmizi Kedi. 3 Franko 2014_ok.indd 3 24/09/14 09:24 LITERARY FICTION 155 pages January 2014 Antonio Moresco Fiaba d’amore Tale of Love An urban fairy tale, a meditation on love and life There once was a crazy old man who lived on a sidewalk surrounded by a ring of cardboard and rags. He had once been an important man, but no one remembers him anymore, not even himself. His life goes on immutably, until something incredible happens. The spell of monotony is broken when a beautiful, sweet smelling young woman comes upon him, smiles, and takes him home with her where she bathes him, feeds him, and loves him. But his new happy life lasts only a short time. Alone and abandoned once again, the old man begins his journey to the city of the dead as frigid snow covers the world around him. But at this point another incredible thing happens. He realizes that the city of the dead is the same of the city of the living. Meanwhile the marvelous girl, who has forgotten all about him, suddenly remembers... A meditation on love and desolation across the boundaries of life and death. ANTONIO MORESCO (Mantua, 1947) is an author of freakish talent. It took him years to complete the monumental and heretical, thousand page long, Canti del caos (2009), that established him as the most solitary and uncompromising Italian writer. Moresco’s recent shorter works include Gli incendiati (2010) and La lucina (2013), soon to be translated in France by Verdier and in the USA by Archipelago Books. 4 Franko 2014_ok.indd 4 24/09/14 09:24 LITERARY FICTION 400 pages January 2014 Massimiliano Parente Il più grande artista del mondo dopo Adolf Hitler The Best Artist in the World, Second Only to Adolf Hitler A brilliant and definitive satire on contemporary art More pop than Andy Warhol, more eccentric than Salvador Dali, more brilliant than Marcel Duchamp, Max Fontana, the greatest artist in the world according to some critics, gained success by accident at the age of 40, on the very day he decided to take his own life. He transformed himself: he wore his green hair in a Hitler youth cut (but uncombed like Jack Nicholson), donned a Nazistyle coat, and Nike Shox on his feet, every piece chosen to send a message. Each of his works is scandalizing, rattling, and horrifying. He is unapproachable like a rock star, whimsical, surprising and provocative just for the fun of it. He goes so far as to declare Adolf Hitler an artistic model to be admired, but is Max Fontana really a genius, or is it just a clever crook? Or even a killer? And above all: why has he gone missing? After starring in sensational performances from Paris to New York, after having made a mockery of colleagues, critics, gallerists and journalists, something went wrong. Outrageously clever and intelligently outrageous, Massimiliano Parente’s hilarious new novel is a work of limitless satire critiquing man and Western society. MASSIMILIANO PARENTE (born in Grosseto in 1970) is one of the most controversial Italian writers and the literary critic of the daily “Il Giornale”. Rights sold in Hungary/Libri Kiado. 5 Franko 2014_ok.indd 5 24/09/14 09:24 LITERARY FICTION 190 pages January 2014 Giorgio Van Straten Storia d’amore in tempo di guerra Romance in Wartime A tormented story of love and loss Sergio is a librarian and, in his spare time, a historian. He has dedicated himself to writing the biography of Antonio Manca, a war hero and one of the most distinguished politicians in Italian history. During one of the recording sessions in which Antonio describes his life to Sergio, the name of Enrico Foa is spoken for the first time. Who was he? And why doesn’t his name appear in any book or records? What secrets does the life of Antonio Manca hide? As Sergio begins his research, he meets Miriam, a Jewish woman who immigrated to Argentina after the war. She knew Enrico Foa. She had loved him, and she had lost him. Miriam does not confess anything to Sergio, but the voice of Enrico himself, recorded years before, reveals a story that had been lost to the folds of time, a story that had begun in the streets of Rome’s ghetto just before the fateful events of October 16, 1943. It is a rich and exciting story, where Miriam and Enrico’s romance is intertwined with his mysterious disappearance and provides a profound view of cultural identity, and the relationship between historical truth and ethics. GIORGIO VAN STRATEN was born in 1955 in Florence, where he still lives. His first novel, Generazione, was published by Garzanti in 1987. With Mondadori he published, Il mio nome a memoria (2000) and La verità non serve a niente (2008). 6 Franko 2014_ok.indd 6 24/09/14 09:24 LITERARY FICTION 235 pages April 2014 Alfonso Celotto Il dott. Ciro Amendola, direttore della Gazzetta ufficiale Dr. Ciro Amendola, Director of the Official Gazette A surprising debut novel suspended between Kafka and Totò Dr. Amendola is not just any employee, he is the director of the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic, which publishes all laws passed by Parliament. He’s a typical guy, albeit a bit fanatical, obsessive, superstitious, and methodically hedonistic about football and food. For many years he has been alone, focused on breathing life into the monumental catalog of Italian laws. Until one morning, in the list of phone calls, he sees the name Mirella. Mirella Cherubini, his childhood sweetheart, the only person who knows that beneath his gray bureaucratic shroud beats a burning heart. Within a week, Dr. Ciro Amendola’s life will be turned upside down in hilarious and unexpected ways. The author has admirably handled this engaging character and the upside-down of his world. A remarkable debut novel, a pleasure to read. ALFONSO CELOTTO (born in 1966 in Castellammare di Stabia) lives in Rome, where he teaches Constitutional Law at the University and works at the Ministry of Economic Development. This is his first novel. 7 Franko 2014_ok.indd 7 24/09/14 09:24 LITERARY FICTION 216 pages January 2014 Silvana La Spina La continentale The Mainlander A vibrant portrait of a woman The promising future of a beautiful northern woman - a blonde bombshell - crumbled the day she marries a Sicilian. She left Padua for Sicily and cultivated a deep aversion for the land that welcomed her and all those who live there. Her daughter embodies that hate, divided between North and South, between mother and father. But in spite of all prejudices, she had a happy childhood amid the sun drunk cicadas, archaic rituals, religious festivals, the fights between the mayor and the priest worthy of a Guareschi farce… all because she is a hybrid, an oddity, a sort of mythical beast. Reading this book not only exposes long-held prejudices, but it touches a wound in the national fabric that has yet to heal - the longstanding divide between North and South. SILVANA LA SPINA was born in Padua to a Venetian mother and a Sicilian father. With Mondadori she published three novels starring Commissioner Maria Laura Gangemi: Uno sbirro femmina (2007), La bambina pericolosa (2008) e Un cadavere eccellente (2011). 8 Franko 2014_ok.indd 8 24/09/14 09:24 LITERARY FICTION 297 pages March 2014 Antonella Cilento Lisario o il piacere infinito delle donne Lisario or Women’s Endless Pleasure A timeless story of forbidden love Story of a woman who discovers pleasure, of a painter who discovers passion, of a city that rises up against the Spanish rule. Naples, 17th century. Lisario Morales is little more than a child when she receives her first marriage proposal. She is mute due to a botched surgery but secretly enjoys reading Cervantes and writing letters to the Virgin Mary. When she can not stand the violence of adults, she sleeps. And after months of sleep, she is taken under the care of Avicente Iguelmano, a failed doctor who has come to Naples to rebuild his reputation. Unfortunately, the doctor’s solution is barely legal and highly paradoxical. Lisario speaks of the mystery of female pleasure and the dubious scientific studies relating to it against the background of a baroque and ignitable Naples, a place of nightly riots, demagogues, murderers, hermaphrodites, plague and uprising against the Spanish lead by Masaniello. Here the destinies of Lisario and Avicente intertwine with those of Michael de Swerts, a renowned painter, and of Jacques Colmar, a theatre director who fell in love with her at first glance. A picaresque novel very close to Don Quijote by Cervantes and Gil Blas de Santillana by Lesage. ANTONELLA CILENTO (born in 1970 in Naples) teaches creative writing since 1993. She is the author of many historical literary novels. Rights sold in: France/Actes Sud; Spain and Latin America/ Alfaguara; Germany/Btb; Korea/ Sam&Parkers; Lithuania/Alma Littera. 9 Franko 2014_ok.indd 9 24/09/14 09:24 LITERARY FICTION 223 pages April 2014 Paolo Marino Strategie per arredare il vuoto Strategies to Furnish Emptiness A charming first novel Edo, a curious young boy, at thirteen years old, learns that his parents will never come home again: they suddenly died in an accident. He is left to deal with life on his own, and he refuses to move in with relatives and goes on living in his family’s apartment. Suddenly alone for the first time, his place becomes home to a series of bizarre characters: twin sisters Greta and Lavinia, who will introduce him to feminine mystique, Enea, who takes him on biking adventures along the river bank; and a whimsical vacuum salesman, who is obsessed with the germs he swears are lurking in the drains. It is a magical world, where Edo lives free from the rules of the adult world, until one day new visitors threaten his loneliness. A story as suspenseful as it is rich in detail about the evolution of a young boy, a heartbreaking novel that introduces a revelatory young voice. PAOLO MARINO was born 1968 and lives in Piacenza, where he works as a professional reporter. This is his first novel, shortlisted at the Premio Calvino. 10 Franko 2014_ok.indd 10 24/09/14 09:24 LITERARY FICTION 153 pages April 2014 Sergio De Santis L’opera viva The Hull A novel on sailing as a metaphor of school and life For Leo, who loves the sea, teaching means trying to teach his class to sail. According to him, the submerged part of a person is the true self. The rest is just appearance. He isn’t sure he is the best captain, but he knows, in nautical jargon, that the hull is the submerged part of the vessel, the one that works with the water to generate motion, while the topsides are only an outer shell. As a sailor, he has few certainties and prefers to sail by sight without too much of a plan. He suspects this spoils his relations with women, friends, and colleagues. But not with his pupils. In fact they are the ocean in which he can relax and feel revived. But not even with them he can reveal the secret that will ruin his days. De Santis writes with a strong poetic voice and admirably portrays a realistic character dealing with his difficulties in life. SERGIO DE SANTIS was born in Naples in 1953. He teaches history and philosophy in highschool and he is contributor to “la Repubblica” and “Il Mattino di Napoli”. With Mondadori he published Nostalgia della ruggine (2010). 11 Franko 2014_ok.indd 11 24/09/14 09:24 LITERARY FICTION 394 pages September 2014 Tea Ranno Viola Fòscari Viola Fòscari A story of passion and destruction in vibrant Sicily Viola Foscari is a woman of great charisma: she is a perfect housewife, a mother of two children, a beauty. But it is a fragile time: her children, who have filled her life every moment, are now old enough to leave the nest, and to want to start their own families. It’s at her child’s engagement party that it all starts. Just one look, and Viola feels a passion suddenly stir inside her, for a man young enough to be her son. Since that time, a growing madness makes its way inside her, and when she realizes that her passion is returned, no amount of logic can quell her desire. Love-drunk days take hold - days where everything seems possible, everything is saved by love - but they are followed by guilt-ridden days, where Viola is risking everything - her husband, her children, her family, respectability and integrity times when fatigue and anxiety prevail. But those, too, are tempered by the fabulous feeling of being in a relationship with a younger man who is full of dreams. Against the background of vibrant Sicily, full of colors and changes, Tea Ranno tells a story of both passion and destruction. TEA RANNO (born in Melissa, Siracusa, in 1963) lives and works in Rome. In 2006, she published Cenere, in 2007, In una lingua che non so più dire both released for e/o, and in 2012, La sposa vermiglia, Mondadori. 12 Franko 2014_ok.indd 12 24/09/14 09:24 LITERARY FICTION 177 pages September 2014 Pietrangelo Buttafuoco I cinque funerali della signora Göring Frau Göring’s Five Funerals The great story of love and death of two demons Berlin, Fall 2013. A writer walks through the ruins of what was one of the most beautiful villas in Europe: Carinhall, the majestic building built by Hermann Göring in honour of his first wife, the Countess Carin von Kantzow. They had met during a stormy night in 1920 in Sweden. The German hero had taken shelter in her family home when the snow prevented his airplane from flying. Both beautiful, rich, and blond as the gods of Norse mythology: love bloomed with only one look between the princess of the snow and the acrobat of the skies. It mattered little that Carin was already married. Hermann swept her away. They seemed to have been kissed by fate. But their luck turned. In 1923 Hermann took part in the failed Beer Hall Putsch, where he was wounded. He developed an addiction to morphine and Carin died of tubercolosys in 1931. But Karin’s body did not rest in peace: she was buried and reburied five times in either solemn ceremonies or sudden chaos to escape Russian and American capture, at last returning to Sweden, her final resting place. “A powerful novel which recalls Cèline’s writing.” PIETRANGELO BUTTAFUOCO (born in Catania in 1963) works as a journalist for “Panorama”, “la Repubblica” and “Il Foglio” and is considered one of Italy’s most irreverent and brilliant authors. All his books, starting from his debut novel, Le uova del drago (Mondadori 2005) were huge success, both popular and critical. 13 Franko 2014_ok.indd 13 24/09/14 09:24 LITERARY FICTION 250 pages September 2014 Gian Mario Villalta Satyricon 2.0 Satyricon 2.0 Rewriting Satyricon in modern times A literature teacher reads the classics every year for his students, but there comes the day in which it appears clear that one of those books reveals a watermark in history that is more relevant than ever before: the protagonists of the Satyricon are not a bunch of dolts, but two refined intellectuals - the best of their time - and the freedman Trimalchio is not a simple, vulgar oaf, but rather a man incapable of understanding that society can not adapt to his sense of propriety: a man can buy anything with enough money, but why not culture? Villalta takes on the challenge of rewriting the Satyricon, taking every detail of the ancient novel and making it relevant to modern times. Starring in this retelling are two young academic researchers who, after receiving several degrees and winning prestigious research grants, still struggle with fixing dinner. Their travel from depressing northern Italy towards the beautiful and decadent Rome takes an irreverent look at a world in which there seems to be no place for the bright, passionate youths, who are truly fascinated by the subject of their studies. GIAN MARIO VILLALTA (Pordenone, 1959) is a novelist, literary critic and poet and the director of the literary festival “Pordenone legge”. He is the author of the novels Tuo figlio (2004), Vita della mia vita (2006, translated by Gallimard in 2008) and Alla fine di un’infanzia felice (2013). 14 Franko 2014_ok.indd 14 24/09/14 09:24 UPMARKET COMMERCIAL FICTION 400 pages October 2014 Leonardo Colombati 1960 1960 The great Italian novel on the lights and shadows of an era Summer 1960: Rome is home to Olympic Games - those of Cassius Clay and Livio Berruti, Wilma Rudolph and Abebe Bikila - while an increasingly insistent voice circulated along the corridors of power calls for a coup with the abduction of the President of the Republic. The head of the Secret Service involves the Telephone Company in its investigations, and with it a young clerk who falls in love with the voice of Olympia, the beautiful daughter of the Major whose call’s he is tasked with intercepting. She is at the center of attention of spies and voyeurs, in a game of tangled political ambitions and private obsessions. It’s a black and mysterious Rome, at the peak of the economic boom, a Golden Age whose protagonists are Pasolini and Calvino, Nabokov and Fellini, De Kooning, Saul Bellow and Magnani, cardinals and starlets ... a wanton café society to the eyes of John Fante, called to Rome by Dino De Laurentiis to write a movie script. To him the Eternal City looks like the giant set of La Dolce Vita, The Empty Canvas, Big Deal on Madonna Street, and Accattone; a sparkling world that dances at the beat of the cha cha cha and rock ’n’ roll. LEONARDO COLOMBATI (born in Rome in 1970) is the author of several novels, including the highly praised Perceber (2005), Rio (2007) and Il re (2010). He also edited the anthology, La canzone Italiana 1861-2011 (2011). He contributes to “Nuovi Argomenti”, “Il Corriere della Sera”, “Vanity Fair”, and “IL”. 15 Franko 2014_ok.indd 15 24/09/14 09:24 UPMARKET COMMERCIAL FICTION 332 pages March 2014 Giuseppina Torregrossa La miscela segreta di casa Olivares The Olivares’ Secret House Roast A spicy family saga full of Sicilian scents In the heart of Palermo, just below the large apartment inhabited by the Olivares family, beats the heart of a powerful, flaming dragon called Orlando. He is the machine that toasts and then grinds black coffee beans and pink peppercorns from morning to night, filling the store with strong, stunning scents ... Amid the walls of the roast house grows Genziana, the most beautiful flower of the five Olivares children, a free and spirited child who is unafraid of the future because her mother Viola - the sensual and wise matriarch of the family - can predict everything by reading coffee grounds. But just when Genziana is growing into the full bloom of youth, war breaks out and with it comes hunger and a bomb that buries almost all of the Olivares family ... Genziana is now alone, the great smoking dragon is forced to stop, and the aroma of roasting coffee seems to be lost forever. Her daily life is turned fragile and uncertain until a small object from the mainland gives Genziana hope of being rescued from a past that cannot be brought back to life: the moka, a coffee percolator that makes great coffee without leaving any grinds to be read. GIUSEPPINA TORREGROSSA (born in Palermo in 1956 and mother of three) lives in Sicily and Rome. Her first novel Il conto delle minne (2009) was translated in France/ Lattes, Germany/Ho.Ca, Spain/ Maeva, Brasil /Objetiva, Israel/ Kinneret, Turkey/Dogan. German rights sold Bloomsbury/Berlin to 16 Franko 2014_ok.indd 16 24/09/14 09:24 UPMARKET COMMERCIAL FICTION 180 pages February 2014 Antonio Marangolo Complice lo specchio Mirror Accomplice A Sicilian writer exploring the depths of passion Private investigator Eddie Ponti has not only amazing detective skills, but the uncanny ability to lengthen and shorten his frame by fifteen centimeters. His long career with the police has accustomed him to unravelling the minds of complicated criminals, but one spring morning he is visited by the prefect’s widow, a mysterious and uninhibited woman with freckles and a wild red mane like a lion’s. The widow entrusts him with the task of stalking a person, drawing up detailed reports of their activities, and reporting back to her every Sunday afternoon. But the person she wants him to stalk is… herself. It all starts off well enough, although a bit surreal, and it quickly becomes a thrilling adventure, a game of cat and mouse, a house of mirrors, a fun take on the theme of love and longing, and ever-present melancholy traveling from beautiful Sicily, to Rome, and from Trieste to Fellini’s foggy Ferrara. ANTONIO MARANGOLO was born in Catania in 1949. A Saxophonist, he has collaborated with important Italian musicians. He paints in his spare time and this is the first novel pulished of the many he has already written. 17 Franko 2014_ok.indd 17 24/09/14 09:24 CONTEMPORARY FICTION 139 pages April 2014 Giuseppe Culicchia Tutti giù per terra (Remixed) We All Fall Down (Remixed) A funny literary experiment In April 1994, Giuseppe Culicchia published his first novel Tutti giù per terra. He was 28 and worked as a clerk in a bookstore which has since been replaced by an Apple Store. The novel was a hit. The protagonist, Walter, was left standing before an uncertain future. Now, twenty years later, Culicchia narrates the same story but brings Walter ahead to modern times. His father, for example, is no longer pushing Walter to find a career in business, but rather to find a career in the healthiest sector: reality TV. And turning right round, the past is repeated in the future, as if in spite of all appearances, we all turned right round in the past two decades, repeating everything all over again. This remix is a literary experiment so successful it’s disturbing, with a surprise ending, capable of reviving the angst and tenderness of teenage years in everyone. GIUSEPPE CULICCHIA (born in Turin in 1965) published in 1994 his first novel Tutti giù per terra, translated in 10 languages. With Mondadori he published Brucia la città (2009), Ameni inganni (2010) and Venere in metro (2011). 18 Franko 2014_ok.indd 18 24/09/14 09:24 NARRATIVE NON FICTION 150 pages June 2014 Enrico Brizzi In piedi sui pedali Standing On the Pedals Jack Frusciante left the band, and he’s now on the pedals Number One, Fury, and the Corsara are just a few of Enrico Brizzi’s beloved bikes, which he speaks of in a reverent, moving, and often comical, voice. Standing On the Pedals is the story of a passion for two-wheeling, but it is also an initiation into the world of cycling. The young protagonist sets off on his bike, beginning in his own back yard, to explore his city from a surprising new perspective. Italy in the late seventies was, after all, still a nation of cyclists. The discovery of the wonder bikers encounter intertwines with the evocation of a time when the “pink caravan” of Giro d’Italia, Italy’s greatest cycling event, inspired young children’s imaginations to run wild. The everyday wonders that come with a “life on pedals” and the epic of great cycling then end up intertwined, creating a story, smiling and deep, the timeless Italian passion for cycling. ENRICO BRIZZI was born in 1974 in Bologna where he lives and works. He made his debut in 1994 with the novel Jack Frusciante è uscito dal gruppo, translated in 24 languages. 19 Franko 2014_ok.indd 19 24/09/14 09:24 UPMARKET COMMERCIAL FICTION 260 pages April 2014 Stefano Crupi Cazzimma Out of Spite A violent novel through the violent streets of Naples In the hungry and bustling city of Naples, amid its gritty streets and perpetual chaos, young Sisto and his friend, nicknamed Profumo, makes the treacherous mistake of starting a small drug trafficking trade amongst an elite circle of wealthy clients. The two boys think they’ve got it made, spending their afternoons playing video games and their nights high on amphetamines, but they haven’t yet dealt with Cavallaro, the powerful boss who runs the underground scene. Sisto escapes death thanks to his well-connected uncle, Antonio, but it comes at the expense of Profumo’s life, which Sisto is forced to take in a cruel and vicious act that haunts him mercilessly. Is there a way to leave his past behind? An unexpected encounter with a girl breaths new life to Sisto’s world, pushing him in a new direction. In a voice that is brisk and candid, Out of Spite tells the story of an aimless, apathetic youth who has fallen ill to the plague of a city notorious for its own brand of fatalism that makes you accept brutality assuming nothing can be changed. STEFANO CRUPI (Naples, 1977) was born and lives in Naples. This is his first novel. Rights sold in Brasil/Bertrand 20 Franko 2014_ok.indd 20 24/09/14 09:24 MEMOIR 378 pages June 2014 Carmelo Sardo - Giuseppe Grassonelli Malerba Bad Weed A shocking true memoir of revenge and redemption This book recounts the life, crimes and education of a mafia boss - Giuseppe Grassonelli serving a life sentence for an uncountable series of murders committed in Sicily between 1980 and 1990. Arrested in 1992, he refused to become a government witness, like many other mafia detainees: he did’n want to give evidence against others because he wanted to be held solely responsible for his own crimes. Grassonelli, an erstwhile “savage criminal” by his own admission, was caught in 1986 in a Cosa Nostra massacre in Porto Empedocle, which left two relatives and two friends dead. Organizing his own mob of young killers, Grassonelli launched revenge attacks on Cosa Nostra, sparking a mob war. He entered prison semi-literate; now he has a philosophy degree. He has written to the youth of his hometown asking to be forgiven for his violence. The book was awarded the Sciascia-Recalmare prize (named after the writer who challenged Cosa Nostra). Its victory sparked an angry row in Sicily: the short-listing of Grassonelli’s book prompted a furious reaction from one of the jurors who quit, saying its candidacy was an outrage and Sciascia would have been appalled. CARMELO SARDO is a professional journalist, the author of the novel Vento di tramontana (Mondadori 2010), translated in France by Editions First. GIUSEPPE GRASSONELLI is a prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment who will never be paroled due to his refusal to cooperate with the police. He was semi-illiterate when he began his sentence. Film rights optioned for international co-production. 21 Franko 2014_ok.indd 21 24/09/14 09:24 UPMARKET COMMERCIAL FICTION 264 pages April 2014 Giorgia Würth L’accarezzatrice The Caresseuse A story of love and hope on a delicate and current topic Gioia, a thirty year-old nurse, is going through a difficult time in her life. She has been fired from the hospital where she worked, has just been dumped by her longtime boyfriend Giuseppe, and her father is very sick. She has been responding to job ads every morning, sending out countless resumés, but nothing has come of it. Until one day she responds to an ad seeking “a nurse with keen sensitivity” in Lugano. At the interview she meets Rosa, a woman suffering from multiple sclerosis who is looking to hire a sexual assistant for her husband, who is also disabled. Gioia leaves, insulted, but soon discovers how little she understood the world of the disabled and their segregation from the rest of the “normal” world. This novel tells of how Gioia decides to become a caresseuse and how, from that day on, her life changes forever. GIORGIA WURTH was born in Genoa to an Italian mother and Swiss father. She is an actress, keeps a blog and in 2010 published her first novel, Tutto da rifare. Film rights already optioned. 22 Franko 2014_ok.indd 22 24/09/14 09:24 UPMARKET COMMERCIAL FICTION 252 pages October 2014 Stefano Zecchi Rose bianche a Fiume White Roses of Rijeka An unsigned card from the past We are at the beginning of the nineties. Yugoslavia is disintegrating, and Croatia has been independent for nearly a year. Gabriele left Rijeka a long time ago and now lives in Milan, when he receives a mysterious, unsigned postcard, inviting him to return to his hometown for a meeting with the unknown sender. Gabriele decides to go, and begins remembering his youth, at a time when Italy was about to leave Rijeka to Yugoslavia. His spirit inflamed by two school friends, and with a heart full of passion for the beautiful Kety, Gabriele had espoused the cause of communism in stark contrast to his father, owner of a factory intended to be nationalized by the new regime. But all that changed when, in 1948, Stalin excommunicated Tito: Gabriele had openly taken a stand in favor of Stalin and was deported to the concentration camp on the island of Goli Otok. Once in Rijeka, guided by the clues contained in the postcard, Gabriele finds many people from the past: in flesh and bone, like the passionate Kety... STEFANO ZECCHI was born in Venice and is a professor of Aesthetics at the University of Milan, where he lives. With Mondadori he has published a long list of novels and non fiction works. 23 Franko 2014_ok.indd 23 24/09/14 09:24 COMMERCIAL FICTION 204 pages March 2014 Giusella De Maria Io non sono ipocondriaca I Am Not a Hypochondriac I love shopping... in the pharmacy! Nina lives in Sorrento and spends most of her days in her “kingdom of delights’, a house nestled in an orange grove where she started a catering business capable of meeting every need. Nina is happy, beautiful, resourceful. But she has one limitation that prevents her from leading a regular life. She is an acute hypochondriac. And of the worst kind: she will not admit to having a psycho-physical disorder, even when she finds herself on a bed in the emergency room for some malady every other day. Her favorite kind of shopping takes place in the pharmacy, where she blissfully wanders around shelves stocked with traditional medicines, homeopathic remedies, herbal antidotes… She is the perfect target for pharmaceutical marketing! Only Marcus, a brilliant surgeon who arrives in town for a convention, manages to suddenly change the course of her severe imaginary disease. They meet during a bout of her hypochondria, and Nina detests him from the start ... So much so that she risks falling in love. GIUSELLA DE MARIA was born in 1984 near Naples and is a “wedding writer”. In 2009 she made her debut with Suona per me. 24 Franko 2014_ok.indd 24 24/09/14 09:24 COMMERCIAL FICTION 221 pages May 2014 Massimo Bisotti Il quadro mai dipinto The Unpainted Canvas An inspirational and illuminating bestseller 60.000 COPIES SOLD Patrick is an Art History lecturer, and a painter obsessed with perfection. About to leave Rome for Venice, he leaves his students at the Academy of Fine Arts this farewell message: “Do believe in emotions, and in love. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes; sometimes they are the way to find happiness.” Before heading to the airport, he visits his secret painting. It depicts the woman he loves and carries in his heart. But the painting is blank, as if the woman has left. Setting aside his unease, he rushes to the airport, but in his frenzy, he hits his head and faints. When he awakes, he is confused and has no idea where he was going. He finds in his pocket a piece of paper with a mysterious address, “Residenza Punto Feliz”, where he finds a new family that welcomes him warmly. His new life goes on between bouts of amnesia and new discoveries until one day he meets Raquel, and he has no doubts: she is the girl from his painting. After the huge success of his first book, Bisotti writes a new inspirational novel that will enchant his readers with his magic and poetical prose, made of raw emotion and powerful illuminations. MASSIMO BISOTTI was born and lives in Rome. His first book, La luna blu, was a commercial success driven by his enthusiastic readers’ word-of-mouth. “I started writing so that my words could heal wounds and be transformed in scars.” 25 Franko 2014_ok.indd 25 24/09/14 09:24 COMMERCIAL FICTION 188 pages July 2014 Roberto Giacobbo La donna Faraone The Lady Pharao A secret very well hidden for years Francesco Volterra, a tour guide in Cairo, is unwittingly involved in the theft of the mummy of Hatshepsut from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and he can not even imagine what he is about to discover. The case of the “lady Pharaoh” hides, in fact, the most shocking secrets of antiquity within an epic love story. The lady Hatshepsut fell in love with Senenmut when he saved her from drowning in the Nile. When she became pharaoh, she brought Senenmut on as court architect and had him appointed high priest. Their relationship was opposed by the courtiers, who also did not approve of having a woman in power. Despite this, their love flourished into the afterlife. Senenmut designed a grand tomb for Hatshepsut near Luxor, adding a secret tunnel that would connect it to his smaller tomb. He then drew the key to the secret origins of Egyptian civilization across the ceiling and covered it with plaster. More than 3,000 years later, touring Cairo by motorbike, Francesco Volterra weaves between unscrupulous traffickers and mysterious women, on the trail of a truth which links the pyramid of Cheops and the star of Orion. ROBERTO GIACOBBO (born in Rome in 1961) since 1963 has presented “Voyager”, a highly popular television show. Among the titles published with Mondadori the bestselling: 2012: la fine del mondo? (2009); Templari: dov’è il tesoro? (2010); Conosciamo davvero Gesù? (2013). 26 Franko 2014_ok.indd 26 24/09/14 09:24 HISTORICAL THRILLER 284 pages April 2014 Matteo Strukul La giostra dei fiori spezzati Carousel of Broken Flowers “One of the most important voices in new Italian thriller” J OE R. L ANSDALE Padua, in hellish 1888: pellagra rages across the countryside. The wealthy city stands in stark contrast with the neighboring slum, Portello. And it is precisely here, after a snowy night, that the broken body of a prostitute is found. Inspector Roberto Pastrello recognizes that his forces will not be enough to solve the case and so decides to call upon help the investigative journalist Roberto Fanton, foremost expert on Portello, and the famous criminologist Alexander Weisz, a tormented man with a dangerous dependence on laudanum. Together they form a strong team. They are further aided by Erendira, a beautiful fortune teller and prostitute. But the murderer continues on his rampage unabated, Weisz missing a primary clue: all the victims are named after flowers. “Matteo Strukul has a brilliant style and a rare imagination: I heartly welcome him to the God-cursed and Devil-blessed brotherhood of mad novelists!” TIM WILLOCKS MATTEO STRUKUL (Padua, 1973) is the creator and founder of “Sugarpulp”, a Venetian literary movement blessed by Joe R. Lansdale and Victor Gischler. He made his debut in 2011 with La Ballata di Mila, followed by the sequel, Regina Nera, both translated by ExhibitA/UK. 27 Franko 2014_ok.indd 27 24/09/14 09:24 HISTORICAL FICTION 400 pages October 2014 Valerio Evangelisti Chi ha del ferro ha del pane Who Owns Iron, Owns Bread The second chapter of Evangelisti’s personal reconstruction of Italy’s past The second chapter in Il sole dell’avvenire’s series, the ambitious aim of which is to tell the history of Italy, from 1875 to 1950, through the personal story of three families of laborers and sharecroppers from Romagna: the Verardi, the Minguzzi and the Zambelli, starting from the founder Attilio Verardi, a former partisan. After the first volume, set in Emilia Romagna and focused on the agrarian crisis, this second volume covers the period from 1900 to 1925 with great events such as: the colonial Empire, the 1st World War and - most important of all - the birth of Fascism. Evangelisti takes on a new challenge in this original work of great historical diligence. Maintaining the integrity of the people’s history, he creates a great historical fresco depicting life in a voice unlike any other. His goal is not to glorify the past, but to tell the story in all its complexity: the history of the characters, with all their contradictions, such as the fragile Eleuteria; the rebellious Reglio and his attempt to avoid military duty, and Narda, who with his heroism will rescue the honorability of his family. VALERIO EVANGELISTI (born in 1952 in Bologna), historian, started in 1992 the publication of the series of novels dedicated to the medieval Inquisitor Eymerich - fantastic and tolkeniesque translated by Rivages, Heyne, Grijalbo, Asa, Conrad, Allfa, Znak, Mlada Fronta. Besides the Eymerich saga, he has published Antracite (2003), Noi saremo tutto (2004), Il collare di fuoco (2006), Il collare spezzato (2007), Il sole dell’avvenire (2013). 28 Franko 2014_ok.indd 28 24/09/14 09:24 COMMERCIAL FICTION 252 pages October 2014 Salvo Sottile Cruel Cruel A thriller where nothing is what it seems Marta Luci, twenty-four, goes out for a jog and never comes home. A wanderer finds her 56 hours later, dead, naked, brutally murdered inside a psychiatric hospital near the cemetery of Varano. Publishing success of the year, Mauro Colesina, a journalist for the magazine “Cruel”, led by Tazio Costa, a bright and charming psychiatrist, goes on the trail of the killer. He is joined by a young intern, Esther, who got her dream of working for the great Professor Costa. But Mauro and Ester have no idea that their investigation is going to bring into the open ancient secrets long buried in the past. And the murderer is still out there… Cruel, Salvo Sottile’s third novel, is a rapid-fire thriller loaded with gripping suspense that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the final. Salvo Sottile (born in 1973 in Palermo) is a journalist and Tv anchorman. He is the author of the novels Maqeda (2007) and Più scuro di mezzanotte (2009). 29 Franko 2014_ok.indd 29 24/09/14 09:24 CONTEMPORARY FICTION 204 pages September 2014 Daniele Cobianchi La sindrome di Hugh Grant The Hugh Grant Syndrome A comedy with a pinch of love on the “desperate forties” Thomas Rimini studied at Bocconi University and works in marketing ready-made sauces. He is forty years old. Not quite middle-aged, but at the age where you’re a half. Half adult and half boy, half dreamer and half realist, half in love and half waiting for who knows who. And when life asks him which side he intends to take, he does not respond, and takes refuge in an eternal present, carefully avoiding anything that might tip the balance in wither direction. He leaves Marcella, his almost wife, and throws himself into his work. He buys a house downtown, refines his seductive cooking skills, gets back in touch with his old friends, each of whom dealing with their own failings as best they can. One becomes the king of happy hour; one dreams of love, going around with a ring in his pocket; one becomes a running aficionado down to skin and bones. But Thomas does not run away from responsibility, indeed, he craves it. An off-screen Hugh Grant who’s only responsibility is being true to himself, for better or worse. DANIELE COBIANCHI (Parma 1970), lives and works in Milan. He has published the novels Il segreto del mio insuccesso (2006) and Dormivo con i guanti di pelle (2013). He is currently vice president of the advertising agency McCann-Erickson Italy. 30 Franko 2014_ok.indd 30 24/09/14 09:24 COMMERCIAL FICTION 250 pages November 2014 Giorgio Ponte Io sto con Marta I’m with Marta Life can be beautiful, even when it’s completely messed up! “My name is Marta Barbieri, I’m Sicilian, I’m twenty-nine years old and I have a natural talent for totally messing up my life.” If she could speak bluntly, this is exactly how Marta, almost thirty and unemployed, would introduce herself to the interviewer at the Milanese publishing house where she hopes to be hired. After discovering that her big break in the publishing world is actually a joke of colossal proportion, Marta decides to get another job. Any job. There are plenty of jobs to be had in Milan after all, no? A series of catastrophic and seemingly inescapable situations befall poor Marta but armed with a steely sense of irony, loyal friends, and persistent optimism, Marta digs in her heels and earns her place in the sun in the grey city of Milan, a place that slowly reveals its true colors and magical atmosphere. GIORGIO PONTE, thirty years old, has worked every kind of job, and now tutors creative writing at the Catholic University in Milan. Within a month of its publication, I’m with Marta! topped the bestsellers list of Self-Published Comedies on Amazon. 31 Franko 2014_ok.indd 31 24/09/14 09:24 COMMERCIAL FICTION 250 pages June 2014 Viola Veloce Omicidi in pausa pranzo Crimes during Lunch Break Murder, satire, lonelyhearts The first person narrator, Francesca Zanardelli, is an office worker in Milan, recently abandoned by her fiancé on the eve of the wedding, who happens upon the corpse of a coworker in the ladies bathroom at lunch one day. The murdered coworker shared office space (and a not easy relationship) with Francesca, and the incident sets off a complicated story of serial murders linked intimately with office politics and Francesca’s personal life. Mixing Bridget Jones with David Sedaris sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, this book is not a real mystery but a laugh-out-loud series of events including speed dating, parental relationship, and life on her own. Francesca lives out the human comedy of office’s everyday life with a self-irony that puts this novel in the vein of the lucky Tv series The Office or Stromberg. Written with a clever and sharp prose, combining brutal honesty with empathy and humour, this funny novel marks the debut of an original voice, to keep an eye on. VIOLA VELOCE is a nickname. She is the author of many novels, all hits on the Amazon List of SelfPublished Bestsellers. Film rights already optioned. 32 Franko 2014_ok.indd 32 24/09/14 09:24 HUMOUR BOOK 200 pages November 2014 Luciana Littizzetto Novità New Book The new poisonous and mercilessly funny book by the Italian “queen of comedy” The eagerly awaited new book by Luciana Littizzetto. All it takes her is a hint, a curiosity from the headlines, a little snafu in everyday’s life and her extraordinary talent turns that into a phenomenal piece of humour. She goes nuclear when she talks about “Walter” and “Jolanda”, her nicknames for male and female genitalia. Since Luciana first began describing their adventures on TV, the “Walter” and the “Jolanda” have almost become real characters in the Italian imagination, as loveable and familiar as a dear old couple living in the flat upstairs. “I always talk about love in the nether regions. I can’t fly any higher. I fly low like turkeys. It’s both the good and the bad thing about me”. With this book the comedy actress from Turin pulls even more punches to the absurdity of private and public life: glitches in society, fashion obsessions, politician and politics. Her pen continues to pour out her inimitable humour... and to sell million copies! LUCIANA LITTIZZETTO (Turin, 1964) a former teacher of literature and musical education, is now one of the cult figures in Italian humour. Her seven books, all massive bestsellers, sold 4,000,000 copies. Among her foreign publishers: Bertrand Brasil, Ripol, Alma Littera, Eichborn, Presença. 33 Franko 2014_ok.indd 33 24/09/14 09:24 NON FICTION 160 pages March 2014 Luca Ricolfi L’enigma della crescita The Growth’s Enigma Discovering the equation that rules our future In this surprising and revolutionary book, Ricolfi states that the real enemy of economic growth is growth itself. As a matter of fact, as wellbeing increases production costs rise, reducing the incentives to improve one’s condition. Consequently, the growth rate starts to slow down at first, until it eventually becomes stagnation, and then ultimately stops altogether, according to a curve that Ricolfi crystallizes in an equation. He claims that economic stagnation is inevitable and indisputable because it does not derive from economic theories, but stems instead from demography. The economy grows and stops just like a school of salmons first grows, then reproduces, and ultimately faces its decline. If the increase of income per capita is a formidable force hindering economic growth, the other variables in the equation are human capital, foreign investments, taxes, and the quality of economic institutions. The equilibrium of these forces will help us understand if we will exit the crisis and start growing again or if we are destined to an inevitable downfall. LUCA RICOLFI teaches Data Analysis at the University of Turin and is an editorialist for “La Stampa”. He is the author of a number of essays. 34 Franko 2014_ok.indd 34 24/09/14 09:24 NON FICTION 280 pages October 2014 Federico Rampini All You Need Is Love All You Need Is Love Understanding the economic crisis through the Beatles’ songs “My model for business is The Beatles…” said Steve Jobs, who knew a thing or two about business. The Beatles’ lyrics marked an era, the West’s last golden age: high growth, full employment, widespread prosperity, rising expectations for young people. Taxman foreshadows the tax revolts; Get Back satirised the first xenophobic and antiimmigration movements. When I’m 64 foresaw the demographic shock of the Welfare State. Eleanor Rigby and Lady Madonna evoke the plight of the nouveau poor. Across the Universe remembers the eruption of India and the fascination of oriental meditations in our world. And Yesterday, with the theme of nostalgia, makes us wonder, was it really better yesterday? The aim of this book is to rebuild our sense of hope: the current crisis calls for ideas and innovative therapies to solve the unemployment problem and overcome social inequality. Steve Job’s imagination and creativity is essential. The Beatles’ songs may very well be the first step toward burying any prejudice we may have against the economy. And to take back the economy from those who seized it, and our livelihoods. FEDERICO RAMPINI, after years in Beijing, is currently the New York correspondent for the daily “la Repubblica”. He has taught in the universities of Berkeley and Shanghai. This is the ninth book published with Mondadori. His foreign publishers include Laffont, Presença and Dokoran. 35 Franko 2014_ok.indd 35 24/09/14 09:24 NON FICTION 272 pages September 2014 Marco Santagata L’amoroso pensiero The Impassioned Thought A modern interpretation of Petrarca’s Song Book After his bestselling biography of Dante, Marco Santagata writes of the love the humanist poet Francesco Petrarca had for Laura, a woman whom we still know precious little about, and for whom Il Canzoniere was written. In the story of Petrarca’s unrequited love lies the birth and development of the long celebrated Petrarchan lyrical style, whose formal aspects are put aside in order to focus on the Song Book as a novel. A book about Petrarca, in which the two characters, the author and Laura, are treated as if they were characters in a novel in prose that unites Petrarca’s personal history with what we know of Laura and the qualities a Provençal noblewoman would esteem, with the aim of attracting readers today not only to the love story that shaped centuries of love poems, but to the tormented figure of the poet and his load of anxiety, weakness, fears. MARCO SANTAGATA (born in 1947) is Professor of Italian Literature at the University of Pisa and one of the leading authorities of Italian classical lyrical poetry, specializing in the works of Dante Alighieri and Francesco Petrarca. In 2012 he successfully published the biography Dante. The Novel of His Life, soon to be translated in the USA by Harvard U.P. 36 Franko 2014_ok.indd 36 24/09/14 09:24 NON FICTION 200 pages September 2014 Pietro Citati I Vangeli The Gospels An invitation to rediscover the literary beauty of the Gospels After tackling the literary masterpieces of the 19th and 20th centuries, Pietro Citati is presented with what are perhaps the simplest and yet most profound works of all time: the Gospels. Reading the Gospels is an experience so humanly rich and exciting that everyone, believers and non-believers alike, should undertake the task at least once in their lifetime. Preferably in the company of an expert guide who is capable of leading the reader through the maze of citations from the Old Testament, complex symbolism, and the countless historical and religious references. Pietro Citati takes on this unique role and sheds light on the milestones of the life of Jesus, unto crucifixion and resurrection, helping readers immerse themselves in the historical period and rising to the levels of theology. Here, the Gospels are seen with new light. Even Our Father, which many learned to recite as children, is revealed to have a wealth of meaning that so often goes unnoticed, and will enhance the value of family prayer. An unmediated study that is enlightening and emotionally impactful. PIETRO CITATI is Italy’s most respected and followed literary critic, contributing regularly to “Corriere della Sera”: his critical works are a mixture of academic analysis and fictional exploration. They have covered the life and works of great authors such as Proust, Tolstoj, Kafka, Goethe and Leopardi. Among his foreign publishers: Gallimard, Acantilado, Diogenes, Companhia das Letras. 37 Franko 2014_ok.indd 37 24/09/14 09:24 NONFICTION 272 pages September 2014 Alba Marcoli La nonna è ancora morta? Is Grandma Still Dead? Children and death: how to help our children process grief “Why do people die?” “Why could Jesus be resurrected but grandpa can’t?” “I knew dads die, but I never thought mine would.” Children from a very young age, often between 4 and 7, become curious about death. Death is far, distant: it is something that you know exists, but by some strange alchemy of thought, we delude ourselves into thinking death has nothing to do with us personally. Growing up involves confronting loss constantly and each step of growth is characterized by victories and losses. Mourning is evolutionary. By presenting real-life stories and discussing methods of psychotherapy, this book aims to be a support to all parents who want to help their children (and themselves) to cross the difficult and painful territory of mourning, told in everyday language. The text closes with the story of the support given to patients with leukemia and their families at the San Gerardo Hospital in Monza, to help children confront the painful experience of their parents’ illness and even death. ALBA MARCOLI, a psychologist, has extensive experience both in teaching and in psychotherapy. She has specialized in children’s psychology and family issues. With Mondadori she published The Hidden Child, The Angry Child, The Lost and Found Child, Life Passages and The Abandoned Child. 38 Franko 2014_ok.indd 38 24/09/14 09:24 NON FICTION 280 pages October 2014 Alberto Cavanna L’ultimo viaggio dell’Imperatore The Emperor’s Last Voyage Napoleon’s last journey to the island of Saint Helena The commemoration of the bicentennial of the Battle of Waterloo will take place in 2015. The same year will mark a less commemorated event in Napoleon’s history: his confinement on the island of St. Helena, where the former Emperor would die six years later. “General Buonaparte”, as he was henceforth addressed, having been stripped of his imperial title, was transported against his will on the “HMS Northumberland” from Plymouth to the island. He was at sea for over two and a half months, going from emperor to prisoner of war in that short time. Based on the documentary evidence from the period and on previously unpublished technical studies (e.g. the reconstruction of the Napoleon’s housing on the Northumberland based on the original documentation of the time) this book recreates the day-to-day events of Napoleons experience at sea aboard the small, dark, overcrowded ship, painting a portrait of a man who has long been a mysterious figure. ALBERTO CAVANNA (Albisola 1961) comes from a long line of esteemed carpenters from Liguria. He consider himself a sailor of stories and a builder of tales. He is the author of L’uomo che non contava i giorni (2012), soon to be published in France/Lafosse aux Ours and Nederlands/Serena Libri. 39 Franko 2014_ok.indd 39 24/09/14 09:24 NON FICTION 192 pages September 2014 Gianluca Nicoletti Alla fine qualcosa ci inventeremo We Will Figure It Out What kind of future will Tommy and many autistic children like him have? Following the success of Una notte ho sognato che parlavi (One Night I Dreamed You Were Talking), the story of his personal experience parenting an autistic son, Gianluca Nicoletti and his blog have become a reference point for families with autistic children with an online following numbering upwards of 400,000. One day a few weeks ago, Gianluca Nicoletti was on the train home when he received alarming news. His son, Tommy, didn’t come home from school. The bus had been rerouted and no one had bothered to warn neither the family nor the school teachers. His family was thrown into panic at the boy’s absence. As the story unfolded, Nicoletti couldn’t keep from voicing his outrage on Twitter; his autistic son could not be considered less important than a parcel. He then decided to start writing again and to raise his voice against the inattention to autistic children’s needs, fighting to raise awareness and launching the “Insettopia Project”, a special place for autistic kids, and a place where parents can gather to imagine and build a future for their children when they enter adulthood. An angry book, but again full of love, aiming to give dignity to autism. GIANLUCA NICOLETTI (born in Perugia) is a journalist, writer, radio host (currently Melog at Radio24), and contributor for “La Stampa”. He published with Mondadori Amen, Le vostre miserie, Il mio splendore and the bestselling Una notte ho sognato che parlavi (2012). 40 Franko 2014_ok.indd 40 24/09/14 09:24 NON FICTION 250 pages November 2014 Giovanni Tizian Il clan degli invisibili The Clan of the Invisibles The good guys of San Michele, the best of youth in the ’ndrangheta Six children play in the square of San Michele (Calabria), kicking the severed head of a scion of a rival family, a war trophy taken under gunfire during the last exchange between the two clans. Ten years after the gruesome game, they each took different paths. One in Dubai. One in Bogota. One lives in New York. One moved to Milan, another to Marseille, and one has remained in the heart of the feud held for over a century by their forefathers, the centre of the ’ndrangheta business, where the orders come from. On their trail are two reporters, investigating for a long time the economic and financial holding run by them, now super managers of crime. They have identified their political accomplices, along with the ones in intelligence and in the Freemasonry. Unexpected persons guarantee impunity to the “good guys” of San Michele. And they have also found links with the “managers” of other mafias, in Campania and Sicily, with whom they conduct business in Milan and around the world. A gripping tale bridging fiction and the true investigation into the world of the ’ndrangheta, the calabrian mafia. GIOVANNI TIZIAN (born in Reggio Calabria in 1982) writes for “L’Espresso” and is a frequent contributor to “la Repubblica”. He is the author of the essayinvestigation Gothica (2011)and La nostra guerra non è mai finita (2013). He has lived under police protection since 2011. 41 Franko 2014_ok.indd 41 24/09/14 09:24 NON FICTION 200 pages October 2014 Marco Bianchi Io mi muovo Get a Move On Exercises and recipes to keep fit More people fall ill from a sedentary lifestyle than do from smoking. It is a startling and impressive fact. The only cure is to get a move on. Marco Bianchi, one of the foremost voices in the fields of nutrition and well-being, helps us fight the temptation to collapse onto the couch all winter in two ways: by providing healthy recipes to follow and tips from Dany, an expert personal trainer, who has developed a system of highly efficient exercises that are fit for everyone. All it takes to become a “warrior” is to follow a 30 day program from winter through spring. Every morning a notification will tell you what exercises to perform, ensuring you take a few healthy minutes of movement a day to maintain the progress you’ve made throughout the warmer months. Marco’s tips on nutrition and his bright and healthy recipes ensure you don’t miss out on any of nature’s bounty in the colder months. Dried fruits, nuts, apples, citrus fruits, cabbage, and even pumpkins, beets and hot drinks are the basis for delicious seasonal recipes that will have you loving and maintaining your healthy lifestyle. Marco Bianchi’s healthy recipe and lifestyle blog “bello&buono”, in the digital edition of “la Repubblica”, has an enormous following. MARCO BIANCHI is a research technician in biochemistry and a science advisor at the Foundation of the noted oncologist Umberto Veronesi. A cook by passion, he is the author of numerous books, including Il talismano del mangiar sano in 2011, and Ricette della dieta del digiuno in 2013, with a preface by Umberto Veronesi. 42 Franko 2014_ok.indd 42 24/09/14 09:24 NON FICTION 248 pages October 2014 Sonia Peronaci Guarda che buono! So Yummy More than 100 recipes kids will love One hundred beautiful, tasty, and easy dishes to stimulate kids’ appetites and solve the dilemma of what to put on the table. Sonia Peronaci, every Italian housewife’s best friend, has selected a large group of recipes that even the pickiest eaters will approve. These recipes offer variety, balance, flavor, and in particular, fun presentations. Sometimes it only takes a little extra flair to make foods more appetizing for kids. Years of experience with her own children and those of her friends have helped Sonia develop sureto-please tips, tricks, and recipes that will make feeding the kids a breeze. This book is a lifeline for anytime you’re stuck on what to serve the kids, giving you the recipes for turning meals into what they should be: a fun, a party for everyone! By the creator of Italy’s most beloved cooking website with uncountable recipes that are fast, flavourful and original. SONIA PERONACI is the most beloved online chef since, a few years ago, she started delighting her fans by creating the immensely popular website www.giallozafferano.com. She is the author of the bestselling titles Le mie migliori ricette (2011) and Divertiti cucinando (2012). 43 Franko 2014_ok.indd 43 24/09/14 09:24 NON FICTION 144 pages October 2014 Aldo Cazzullo La Guerra dei nostri nonni Our Grandparent’s War The First World War on the Italian front Aldo Cazzullo, in addition to being one of the most prestigious names at “Corriere della Sera”, is also a skilled storyteller. In this book he has unearthed an epic and moving story, choosing to describe the war of our grandparents: the First World War and its thousands of victims. In the squares of every town, even the most remote and uninhabited, there is a plaque commemorating a generation: the kids born at the end of the nineteenth century who were swept away by the war at the front. A war fought in the trenches by poor soldiers, poorly armed, starving and unprepared to live under extreme conditions. A war from which few returned to tell their story. Aldo Cazzullo tells the stories of the First World War on the Italian front, alternating between stories of men and women. It was during the Great War that women in Italy began to gain their independence, proving themselves capable of doing the same things men had done: factory work, driving trams, earning degrees, teaching. The various witnesses testified that the Great War was the first challenge of a united Italy, and it was won. This book helps us to remember who our grandparents were, the force they were capable of, and the heritage we carry on within us. ALDO CAZZULLO (born in Alba in 1966), a journalist and a writer, is a columnist for the “Corriere della Sera”. He is the author of numerous books, among which: I ragazzi di Via Po (1997), I grandi vecchi (2006), L’Italia de noantri (2009), Viva l’Italia! (2010) and Basta piangere! (2013), all massive bestsellers. In 2011 he published his first novel La mia anima è ovunque tu sia. 44 Franko 2014_ok.indd 44 24/09/14 09:24 NON FICTION 300 pages November 2014 Bruno Vespa Italiani voltagabbana Italian Turncoats The history of a nation of incurable opportunists From as early as the First World War, the reputation of Italians in the international arena was not the best. Their loyalty as allies was seriously uncertain. “Rushing to the aid of the victors”, to use the scathing words of Flaiano, is what Italy has done with distressing regularity for over a century. Fascists became anti-fascists overnight on 25 July, 1943. The House of Savoy made an abrupt about-face, turning against their German allies during the Second World War, exactly as it had done thirty years earlier. Fascist intellectuals disappeared in the blink of an eye after the end of Second World War. There was mass migration to the Communist Party at the time of the announced “overtaking” of the Christian Democracy (1976). Bettino Craxi, leader of the Socialist Party, was worshipped like an Egyptian god, then suddenly abandoned. Berlusconi, who was also fluctuating between the Christian Democracy and Socialist parties, once become an eminent statesman, all of a sudden was courted by former rivals like Agnelli and De Benedetti. Even Prime Minister Renzi, snubbed for a long time, is now pursued at every step by zealous and unexpected admirers. A portrait of the oft ruthless and ironic national character of Italy. BRUNO VESPA was born in 1944 in L’Aquila. Since 1996, his TV program “Porta a Porta” has been the most watched show on politics and current events. With Mondadori he has published a long list of important essays - all highly bestselling - giving his many readers a chance to better understand contemporary Italy’s delicate political and financial situation. 45 Franko 2014_ok.indd 45 24/09/14 09:24 NON FICTION 200 pages November 2014 Gianfranco Ravasi Le meraviglie dei Musei Vaticani The Wonders of the Vatican Museums An extraordinary guide to the Vatican Museums and their treasures Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Papal Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church and the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology, takes us on a personal journey through the extraordinary artistic treasures of the Vatican Museums, the preeminent museum created by the popes of Rome, in which five centuries of art and culture are collected. It tells the story not only of the famous Sistine Chapel and Leonardo’s “Last Judgment”, or of the Raphael Rooms, which were decorated for Pope Julius II, or of the Borgia Apartment (which includes the most important artists in the history of Italian painting, from Giotto to Fra’ Angelico, Melozzo da Forlì to Perugino, Titian, Paolo Veronese, and Caravaggio) but also the stories of lesser known, but no less exquisite, works from the Museo Egizio and the National Etruscan Museum, up to the most important examples of contemporary art. Gianfranco Ravasi is a man of great culture, combining the historical and aesthetic analysis of individual works of art to the anecdotal story of the context in which they were conceived. The book is richly illustrated. GIANFRANCO RAVASI (born in Lecco in 1942), archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church, is currently the president of the Papal Commission for the Cultural Heritage. A biblical and Hebrew scholar, he has written a great number of essays on the subject of religion. Among his foreign publishers: Herder/Germany, Fleurus/ France, Verbo Divino/Spain, Dom Quixote/Portugal, Saint Benedict Press/WEL. 46 Franko 2014_ok.indd 46 24/09/14 09:24 NON FICTION 144 pages December 2014 Mario Calabresi Senza mai voltarsi indietro Without Turning Back Stories of young Italians The Editor of “La Stampa” met many young Italians in Italy and abroad, discovering that a lot can be said about them, apart from saying they are big babies or lazy. They are engaged in universities, tech start-ups or in the third sector. Italian boys and girls show that they are working hard and are not losing time in facing the most severe crisis since World War II to the present. Mario Calabresi listens to them, and through their stories, we discover they are facing unthinkable challenges to asserting their own ideas for the future, disarmed by a policy that does not consider them and from a state that does not protect them. An open and warm invitation to give hope to young Italians helping them in inventing their future and setting ambitions goals. MARIO CALABRESI was born in Milan in 1970, just two years before his father, the Commissioner Luigi Calabresi, was shot. His first novel, Spingendo la notte più in là (Mondadori 2007), a memoir on the tragic death of his father, was a huge literary case, translated in Germany/ Schirmer&Graf, Spain/Debate, France/Gallimard, USA/Other Press. 47 Franko 2014_ok.indd 47 24/09/14 09:24 NON FICTION 234 pages March 2014 Massimo Franco Il Vaticano secondo Francesco The Vatican According to Francis From Buenos Aires to Rome: how Pope Bergoglio is changing the Church By scanning what happened since the beginning of 2013 until today, it is difficult not to share the impression of current revolutionary events; or at least of a radical current transformation: the epochal resignation of Benedict XVI; the Conclave’s election of the Argentinian Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Francis’s choice to live in Domus Sanctae Marthae rather than in the papal apartment just to begin. And what took place next has marked even more the break between the Vatican’s “before” and “after”. Over the past decade, the Vatican has been aligned with the West, which has damaged its relations with the Islamic world. Francis is a post-Cold War pontiff and the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere - he is eager to move away from East-West divides, challenge the inequality between North and South and bring an end to the era of the Eurocentric Vatican. The Holy See’s relations with President Barack Obama and President Vladimir Putin are the consequence of this shift in the Vatican’s attention and priorities in its foreign policy. We are at the very beginning of the pontificate, and further developments are still to come. But already some major changes are under way. MASSIMO FRANCO (Rome, 1954) is a political columnist for the leading Italian daily “Corriere della Sera”. He is the author of Imperi paralleli: Vaticano e Stati Uniti. Due secoli di alleanza e conflitto (2005; published in USA by Doubleday in 2009); Andreotti. La vita di un uomo politico, la storia di un’epoca (2008) and La crisi dell’Impero Vaticano (2013). World Spanish rights sold to Aguilar. 48 Franko 2014_ok.indd 48 24/09/14 09:24 NON FICTION 250 pages September 2014 Raffaele Talmelli - Luciano Regolo Il diavolo The Devil The Devil: how to recognize his seduction and defend yourself From an exorcist a rigourous and well-documented book, which has obtained official imprimatur by the Church. Was Baudelaire correct in saying, “The devil’s finest trick is to persuade you that he does not exist”? How can one recognize the seduction of evil and protect himself? Are the number of demonic possessions increasing? How have saints and mystics like Padre Pio or Natuzza Evolo survived the assaults of Satan and his hosts? These and other questions are answered in this volume by a Benedictine monk, exorcist and psychiatrist, who in his life has confronted the Devil more than once. This book is an excursus on the fight against Satan and a guide to exposing him. Because believing the Devil no longer exists is the principle proof that the Devil is still here. FATHER RAFFAELE TALMELLI, exorcist, doctor and psychiatrist, has also a degree in Philosophy. He is the author of a number of nonfiction titles on this subject. LUCIANO REGOLO is a regular contributor to many magazines, such as “Oggi”, “Chi” e “Novella 2000”. Among the titles published with Mondadori: Natuzza Evolo (2010) and Il dolore si fa gioia: Padre Pio e Natuzza. Due vite, un messaggio (2013). 49 Franko 2014_ok.indd 49 24/09/14 09:24 MEMOIR 129 pages January 2014 Caterina Chinnici È così lieve il tuo bacio sulla fronte Your Faint Kiss on the Forehead A crushing memoir on Rocco Chinnici, killed by Mafia A crushing memoir by the daughter of a prosecutor who was one of the first to be killed in the fight against the Italian mafia. On July 29, 1983 the prosecutor Rocco Chinnici and his bodyguards were killed in Palermo by the mafia. He was a loyal servant of the State engaged in the fight against organized crime. One of his legacies was the creation of a special unit dedicated to battling crime rings. Among his ranks were judge Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone. Now, several years later, Chinnici’s daughter Caterina, a prosecutor herself fighting the same fight, tells the story of this modern hero, recounting the events leading up to the tragic day that ended her father’s life, and discussing family life that followed. Her family has remained in Palermo despite the threat to their safety, feeling that forgiveness was the most important message her father had bestowed upon them. CATERINA CHINNICI was born in Palermo in 1954 and is a legal prosecutor. It took her thirty years to come to terms with the terrible murder of her father. 50 Franko 2014_ok.indd 50 24/09/14 09:24 MEMOIR 204 pages September 2014 Maria Stefanelli Loro mi cercano ancora They Are Still Looking For Me The story of rebellion and courage of the first woman to serve as a legal witness against the Calabrian mafia This book is the memoir of a former ’ndrangheta member, the first to serve as an official informant against the criminal organization in Calabria, revealing criminal plots and intimate details. In the hope of avoiding her stepfather’s sexual abuse, Maria at the insistence of her brothers (both drug traffickers and kidnappers) agreed to marry the boss of the most powerful gang in Piedmont, Francesco Marando. Her husband used her as a relay to manage his business from prison. After helping him escape the mental hospital in Genoa where he was hospitalized due to a false medical report, Maria hid him in Aspromonte. In 1998, however, after the murder of some of her own family members, Maria decided to tell everything she knows about the criminal organisation and to denounce it, not wanting her daughter to be condemned to the same fate. The publication of her story is a call to rebellion for all women still belonging to the organisation. MARIA STEFANELLI was born near Reggio Calabria. In 1990 she married one of the leading ’ndrangheta bosses. In 1998 she started to cooperate with the police and since then she lives in a secret place. She wrote this book with the journalist Manuela Mareso, editor of the monthly “Narcomafie”. 51 Franko 2014_ok.indd 51 24/09/14 09:24 MEMOIR 156 pages March 2014 Gioele Dix Quando tutto questo sarà finito When This Is All Over Father and son in search of an identity stolen by history Milan, September 1938. An honest and respectable gentleman, a family man and patriot, comes home upset. He has just read on the front page of “Corriere della Sera” that racial laws have come into effect, making every Jewish Italian such as himself a second class citizen. The author of this book knew his father was hiding a story, for years he could not get him to tell it but only recently he persuaded him to disclose it. From that exchange comes this intense and culturally relevant book: the story of an Italian Jewish family, who like many others, was taken by surprise by the racial laws set in 1938. It is the story of a boy who does not understand why he must leave his school, his home, and pack everything into a rucksack and flee. It is a story of fear, humiliations and flashes of unexpected human goodness. Of confidence, hope, and stubborn optimism. The story of a father and a son becomes a lesson in history and life. GIOELE DIX (Milano 1956), actor and director, is the author of La Bibbia ha (quasi) sempre ragione (2003), Manuale dell’automobilista incazzato (2007) and Si vede che era destino (2010). 52 Franko 2014_ok.indd 52 24/09/14 09:24 NONFICTION 240 pages September 2014 Dino Zoff Dura solo un attimo la gloria Glory Lasts but a Moment For the first time, the most famous goalkeeper in the history of Italian football tells his story This is not a traditional biography, but rather a small history of Italy told from the unique perspective of a sports hero, Dino Zoff, an “Italian Hapsburg”, silent and deep, that has covered half a century. Against the eternally green backdrop of football fields, we watch the most diverse group of characters assemble. Gianni Agnelli, to whom Zoff is forced to lie to when he called at the break of dawn to ask: ‘“How’s the weather over there, Zoff?” “Mostly calm, sir.” What else could I say? I couldn’t tell him that I had not yet opened the windows.’ Or Gaetano Scirea, who played an entire game with a busted shoe, receiving illegal hits on his bare foot, but “without reacting, striving to be perfect, as always”, and to win. And Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, whose lack of preparation got him fired from “his” Juventus (“They swapped sparkling wine for champagne”). And Silvio Berlusconi and the claims of his unworthiness after the events of Euro 2000, which Zoff responded to by quitting. But above all, in this book we breath a constant feeling of nostalgia, and admiration for the silent men who have characterised his entire story. DINO ZOFF (1942), the legendary goalkeeper, is considered the 3rd greatest goalkeeper of the 20th century behind Lev Yashin and Gordon Banks and named by Pelè as one of the 125 greatest living footballers. 53 Franko 2014_ok.indd 53 24/09/14 09:24 Franko 2014_ok.indd 54 24/09/14 09:24 Bianchi Marco Bignardi Daria Bisotti Massimo Brizzi Enrico Buttafuoco Pietrangelo Calabresi Mario Cavanna Alberto Cazzullo Aldo Celotto Alfonso Chinnici Caterina Cilento Antonella Citati Pietro Cobianchi Daniele Colombati Leonardo Crupi Stefano Culicchia Giuseppe De Maria Giusella De Santis Sergio Dix Gioele Evangelisti Valerio Franco Massimo Giacobbo Roberto La Spina Silvana Littizzetto Luciana Marangolo Antonio Io mi muovo L’amore che ti meriti Il quadro mai dipinto In piedi sui pedali I cinque funerali della signora Göring Senza mai voltarsi indietro L’ultimo viaggio dell’Imperatore La Guerra dei nostri nonni Il dott. Ciro Amendola, direttore della Gazzetta ufficiale È così lieve il tuo bacio sulla fronte Lisario o il piacere infinito delle donne I Vangeli La sindrome di Hugh Grant 1960 Cazzimma Tutti giù per terra (Remixed) Io non sono ipocondriaca L’opera viva Quando tutto questo sarà finito Chi ha del ferro ha del pane Il Vaticano secondo Francesco La donna Faraone La continentale Novità Complice lo specchio 42 3 25 19 13 47 39 44 7 50 9 37 30 15 20 18 24 11 52 28 48 26 8 33 17 Art director: Giacomo Callo Progetto grafico: Gianni Camusso Impaginazione: Elisabetta Bertani COP_FRANKOFORTE 2014_ok.indd 3-4 23/09/14 16:53 Foreign Rights Manager Emanuela Canali ARNOLDO MONDADORI EDITORE via Mondadori,1 20090 Segrate-Milano canali@mondadori.it tel. +39.02.7542.3167 fax +39.02.7542.3047 Foreign Rights Assistant Nadia Colombo ARNOLDO MONDADORI EDITORE via Mondadori,1 20090 Segrate-Milano contratti1@mondadori.it tel. +39.02.7542.2384 fax +39.02.7542.3047 Rights List 2014 www.librimondadori.it COP_FRANKOFORTE 2014_ok.indd 1-2 23/09/14 16:53