A Dead Poets Society type of teacher. — Massimo Gramellini

Book by book, Enrico Galiano has become an idol to his readers. There is no one else who can talk to adolescents and adults alike using the universal language of emotions.

Gioia has always thought there was a word to make sense of anything. Where those she knew were not sufficient, there were those of other languages: untranslatable but full of magic. But now the notebook filled with those words lies forgotten in the bottom of a drawer. Gioia has become the nighttime of the sunny day she once was: she has left school and no longer has those great chats, like journeys, with her philosophy teacher, Bove. He doesn’t have the answers she’s looking for, either. In fact, he’s the one who has most disappointed her. An unspeakable secret has emerged from his past, which shows her that he’s not what she imagined he was. That nothing lasts forever and that sooner or later everyone abandons her. Just like Lo, who after holding her in his arms, betrayed her trust: she was certain nothing could separate them after what they had experienced together. But that’s not how it went. Gioia can’t forgive him. Better not to believe in anything.

But Lo and Bove really do know this girl who almost never smiles but, when she does, lights up the day: the one who writes a verse of her favorite poem on her arm every day. Who sometimes stumbles, but is happy. This is the Gioia who must emerge again. Together it is possible to rise out of the darkness and write a different ending. Together the din of the world is just a whisper that can’t frighten you.

Enrico Galiano has finally made up his mind to give readers the sequel to Eppure cadiamo felici  (And Yet We End Up Happy), his first novel and the one that confirmed his position on the Olympus of novelists. Since then, Italy’s best-loved teacher has written four other books which have climbed the charts, and now he is being translated all over Europe, becoming a key figure for the press and television. Meeting Gioia and Lo again is immensely exciting, because they were really never far from our hearts.