Redenta is naïve, yet her skewed gaze sees what others overlook. She is vulnerable, yet she withstands the ferocity of her time. Redenta was born in Castrocaro on the day of the Matteotti murder. In the village, people whisper that she brings bad luck, and won’t even make it to the feast of Saint Rocco. Yet, when the celebration comes, she’s still alive—while Matteotti is found dead. That’s how Fascism truly begins, as does the story of Redenta, her family, and her people. A world of radical violence—the Fascist era, the war, male domination—and yet one sustained by an inexhaustible faith in humanity. Even when Bruno, her beloved childhood friend who had promised to marry her despite her “mad leg” caused by polio, vanishes without explanation, Redenta never stops waiting for him. And when the Fascist leader Vetro chooses her as his wife, the sadism he inflicts cannot extinguish her instinct to save others—before even saving herself. Redenta’s life intertwines with that of Iris, a partisan fighter in the band led by the legendary Commander Diaz. What secret is Iris hiding? Powerful and courageous, I giorni di Vetro (The Days of Glass) is a novel about our fragility and our stubborn hope in the face of history’s scandal.

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Nicoletta Verna / Read Bio

Humanism — which throughout history has sought to understand, evoke, and engage with nature, feeling it at times as an ally and at times as a stranger — is today called to take responsibility for the environment. Not a humanism that asserts humankind’s supremacy over the earth, but a fragile humanism, capable of confronting the otherness of nature and embracing kinship with all living beings, placing at its center the human responsibility for both the ruin and the salvation of the world. In its history, humanism has rarely been about triumph or domination, but rather about tension and contradiction: from Petrarch to Montaigne, from Machiavelli to Cervantes, up to the Enlightenment and its hope for the betterment of humanity. And even when reason has been reduced to an instrument of power and destruction, it has continued to inspire every experience of freedom, authenticity, and resistance — every opening toward a more just and, if possible, happier life.

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Giulio Ferroni / Read Bio

Sam and Elena dream of another life. On the island off the coast of Washington where they were born and raised, they and their mother struggle to survive. Sam works on the ferry that delivers wealthy mainlanders to their vacation homes while Elena bartends at the local golf club, but even together they can’t earn enough to get by, stirring their frustration about the limits that shape their existence. Then one night on the boat, Sam spots a bear swimming the dark waters of the channel. Where is it going? What does it want? When the bear turns up by their home, Sam, terrified, is more convinced than ever that it’s time to leave the island. But Elena responds differently to the massive beast. Enchanted by its presence, she throws into doubt the desire to escape and puts their long-held dream in danger. A story about the bonds of sisterhood and the mysteries of the animals that live among us—and within us—Bear is a propulsive, mythical, richly imagined novel from one of the most acclaimed young writers in America.

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Julia Phillips / Read Bio

How do the disillusioned, forgotten, and persecuted not only endure but expand life’s possibilities? What does a Black utopia look like? Aaron Robertson explores Black Americans’ efforts to reshape their lives, traveling from his ancestral Promise Land, Tennessee, to Detroit, home to one of the most ambitious Black utopian experiments: the Shrine of the Black Madonna. Founded by preacher Albert Cleage Jr., the Shrine blended Afrocentric Christianity with radical community projects, centered on its iconic mural of a Black Virgin and Child. Members built bookstores and co-ops, formed a self-defense force, raised children communally, and created the nation’s largest Black-owned farm—an ongoing attempt at an earthly paradise. Interweaving this history with other Black utopian visions from Reconstruction to today, Robertson reveals a long-standing pursuit of spaces where Black dignity and protection come first. The Black Utopians portrays a movement still unfolding, offering radical possibilities for the future.

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Aaron Robertson / Read Bio