Fifty year-old Cesare Forti has only the best in life. He married Margherita, who is splendid, elegant and always able to say what others want to hear. They have Maya, their little girl, their princess. At work, Cesare is considered a guru, and he is surrounded by a court of people who see him as unshakeable, the ideal man. But this perfect package conceals a breaking point. Cesare is not what he seems; he is the opposite of perfection and strength. The first to crack his smooth surface will be a woman in a coral coloured dress that seems to have emerged from the sea. Then, a kid with an absurd, attention getting peroxided tuft of hair will be the instrument of revelation. First a death and then blackmail will put the protagonist with his back to the wall and facing the truth. The masks will fall and, for the first time, Cesare will encounter his own face. The real, naked one that leaves no escape. The face of a scoundrel, an unfaithful husband and interrupted father. This is a story that plays on the borders between truth and lies, raising the question if it is possible to go through life without trampling both or to look for oneself without touching evil. A novel about male identity that a man would be incapable of writing. The authorElena Mearini was born in 1978 and lives in Milan. She writes poetry and fiction and holds writing labs in communities and psychiatric rehab centres. In 2009, her book 360 gradi di rabbia came out (Excelsior 1881), in 2011, Perdisa Pop published her Undicesimo comandamento. Then came her third novel A testa in giù (Morellini Editore) and the collected poems Dilemma di una bottiglia (Edizioni Forme Libere) and Per silenzio e voce (Marco Saya Editore). In 2016, Cairo published her book Bianca da morire, signalled by the Premio Campiello jury, and in 2017, the poetry collection Strategia dell’addio was published by LiberAria.Cairo Publishing SrlCorso Magenta, 5520123 MilanoItalyTel +39 02 433131Fax +39 02 43313550Represented by:Loredana Rotundo Literary Agency Via Sant’Angelo 3 20037 Paderno Dugnano (MI) www.lrliteraryagency.com