LE 27 SVEGLIE DI ATENA FERRARIS

Atena Ferraris is a quirky, fiercely young woman in her 30's and she is a little different from other people. She sees things that most of us miss. Le 27 sveglie di Atena Ferraris is a poignant, hilarious, heart-warming contemporary novel about the unexpected power of vulnerability and the magic of seeing the world differently, for the fans of Mark Haddon or Forrest Gump.

She dresses unfashionably, hates surprises, likes to stay at home and has many alarms set every day to remind her of everything she needs to do at the right time. But above all, she always asks a lot of questions. She likes to have answers and explanations for everything. These are some of her twenty-seven alarm clocks:

1. Call my brother Febo
2. Call Febo back after his skydiving session
3. Do online research for my magazine
4. Finish research
5. Check if the moka hasn't exploded
6. Draw rebuses for the magazine
7. Stop the rebuses (and also the coffee)
8. Hanging out the laundry
9. Checking e-mails
10. Perform a magic show for Professor Gluck

But, now something has happened that has changed things. Her twin brother Febo is a writer in crisis. In order to find inspiration, he has the strangest experiences. He has enrolled in a school of magic. He is sure he has discovered something mysterious, but he says that in order to understand it, he needs Atena, her ability to see details that others don't, to follow clues that no one else notices.

And so, to keep him happy, Atena is forced to get out of the house, meet new people and have normal conversations. She's not good at those things. But maybe it's time to find out if her mother has been telling her the truth about who she is.

Born in Milan in 1979, Alice Basso lives in a charming medieval village outside of Turin. She is the author of two bestselling series: the Vani Sarca series and the Anita Bo series, with over 500,000 copies sold.