Dialogue’s Bookshelf

The Repair
Women mending the world
by Marcella Filippa
Afterword by Marco Baliani
Lindau editore, 2026

In a complex time such as the one we are living through, which leaves us dismayed—a time, to paraphrase Giacomo Leopardi, of excessive civilization—we need comfort, that flickering and dim light that some women were able to keep lit and radiate throughout their existence. Women of the 20th century, who lived during a tragic period of totalitarianism, war, persecution, and prevailing ferocity, did not hesitate to put themselves on the line, risking their own lives, or simply testified to the value of life and practices of solidarity and welcome, beyond and above any religious, ethnic, national, political, or generational affiliation. Italian and European women, some well-known, others almost unknown, who often acted in silence, without clamor; I wanted to offer them here to readers, to those who have followed me for a long time and to those yet to come, returning—after the many individual stories I have told—to multiple and interconnected profiles, capable of offering a small, precious treasure chest to draw from whenever needed.

Beyond
Life and mission of Saint Giuseppe Allamano
by Alberto Chiara
Effatà Editrice, 2025

Amidst the noise of his time, Giuseppe Allamano chose to listen to one voice and that alone: the voice of God, which led him to recognize signs of His love as much in those who came to open their hearts in the dim light of a confessional, as in the homes of poor Turin that he was not ashamed to visit, and, finally, in distant corners of Africa where he sent his Consolata Missionaries (men and women). All this, without ever stopping at appearances and without ever giving in to adversity, mistakes, or defeats. Giuseppe Allamano? A man who went "beyond," proclaimed first Blessed (1990) and then Saint (2024). This biography restores—contextualized within the succession of events—the fundamental traits of his life, his thought, and his spiritual legacy, giving us a credible, current, and deeply relevant believer, a companion on the road upon whom we can rely.

Aurora Antonucci
NP February 2026