The modest apartment in Via Gemito smells of paint and white spirit. The living room furniture is pushed up against the wall to create a make-shift studio, and drying canvases must be moved off the beds each night. Federi, the father, a railway clerk, is convinced of possessing great artistic talent. If he didn't have a family to feed, he'd be a world-famous painter. Ambitious and frustrated, genuinely talented but full of arrogance and resentment, his life is marked by bitter disappointment. His long-suffering wife and their four sons bear the brunt. It's his first-born who, years later, will sift the lies from the truth to tell the story of a man he spent his whole life trying not to resemble. Narrated against the background of a Naples still marked by WWII and steeped in the city's language and imagery, The House on Via Gemito - first published 20 years ago - is a masterpiece of contemporary Italian literature.

The Name of God is Mercy, Pope Francis' exploration on the universal theme of mercy, is a spiritual inspiration to both followers of Christianity and non-Christians around the world. Drawing on his own experience as a priest and shepherd, Pope Francis discusses mercy, a subject of central importance in his religious teaching and testimony, and in addition sums up other ideas - reconciliation, the closeness of God - that comprise the heart of his papacy. Written in conversation with Vatican expert and La Stampa journalist Andrea Tornielli, The Name of God is Mercy is directed at everyone, inside or outside of the Catholic Church, seeking meaning in life, a road to peace and reconciliation, or the healing of physical or spiritual wounds.

The Name of God is Mercy, Pope Francis' exploration on the universal theme of mercy, is a spiritual inspiration to both followers of Christianity and non-Christians around the world. Drawing on his own experience as a priest and shepherd, Pope Francis discusses mercy, a subject of central importance in his religious teaching and testimony, and in addition sums up other ideas - reconciliation, the closeness of God - that comprise the heart of his papacy. Written in conversation with Vatican expert and La Stampa journalist Andrea Tornielli, The Name of God is Mercy is directed at everyone, inside or outside of the Catholic Church, seeking meaning in life, a road to peace and reconciliation, or the healing of physical or spiritual wounds.

Winner of the Premio Selezione Campiello prize and the Premio Alessandro Manzoni award for best historical novel, The Watercolourist is the irresistible Italian bestseller from Beatrice Masini. Nineteenth-century Italy. A young woman arrives at a beautiful villa in the countryside outside Milan. Bianca, a gifted young watercolourist, has been commissioned to illustrate the plants in the magnificent grounds. Bianca settles into her grand new home, invited into the heart of the family by the eccentric poet Don Titta, his five children, his elegant and delicate wife and powerful, controlling mother. As the seasons pass, the young watercolourist develops her art - inspired by the landscape around her - and attracts many admirers. And while most of the household's servants view her with envy, she soon develops a special affection for one housemaid, who, she is intrigued to learn, has mysterious origins . . . But as Bianca's determination to unlock the secrets of the villa grows, she little notices the dangers that lie all around her. Who is the mysterious woman she has glimpsed in the gardens? What could Don Titta and his friends be whispering about so furtively? And while Bianca watches so carefully for clues, who is watching her? In The Watercolourist, set against the intoxicating background of an Italy on the cusp of change, a young woman's naive curiosity will take her far into the territory of hidden secrets, of untold truth and of love.

'This is Christian hope: the certainty of walking towards something that exists, not something I hope might be there.' In response to the devastating loss the world faced during the pandemic, Pope Francis was inspired to write a book to help people find hope and meaning. God is joyful, he writes. And God's compassion is no less than the deepest expression of God's joy, and the heart of all Christian preaching. The liberating revolution of the Gospel is encapsulated here. We are not supposed to carry burdens heavier than those we already have, but to bear witness to a new, beautiful and surprising horizon: to share a joy that has been prepared for everyone. From the anxieties of the age to the importance of nature, A Gift of Joy and Hope encourages readers to look outside themselves to embrace authentic beauty, change attitudes that exclude others, overcome life's challenges with courage and, trust that joy and hope are still possible, even in challenging times; for joy has the last word - always.