A powerful, uplifting and moving story of a teenage girl's battle against losing her sight and keeping her friendships.

Mafalda is 13 and has been blind since she was 10. Her best friend is the cheerfully rule-breaking Filippo, and she is accompanied everywhere by Ottimo Turcaret, her devoted cat. Mafalda is always looking on the bright side, thinking of things she can do both now and in the future despite her loss of sight. But other things are worrying her too: her father who has lost his job and is now in the depths of depression, refusing to leave his bed; and the horrible girl in school, Debbie, who seems very interested in Filippo . . . So now Mafalda has to start thinking what Filippo really means to her . . .

Then two new adults come into her life: Elsa, a homeless young woman, and Signor Nino, the elderly upstairs neighbour with an awful temper and a great passion for Charles Dickens. Little by little, Mafalda learns their stories, and how their lives had also been shaped by brave and difficult choices. A moving sequel to THE DISTANCE BETWEEN ME AND THE CHERRY TREE

Paola Peretti is Italian and lives in Verona. She studied Literature and Philosophy and graduated in Publishing and Journalism in 2011 with a thesis on gender discrimination in literature. She attended the Palomar School of creative writing in Rovigo. She has worked as a waitress, bartender, babysitter and teacher, also writing articles for the local newspaper.

Fifteen years ago she discovered she had a rare genetic illness called Stargardt Disease which causes progressive vision loss, and can cause eventual blindness. There is no cure to date. Paola's experience of living with loss of vision is the inspiration for her writing.

She currently teaches Italian to immigrant children from Senegal, Nigeria, China, Romania, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Moldova and Russia.