The Greatest
Winner of the Strega Children’s Prize 2021- Winner of Bookstar Prize for German-language Literature in 2023
- Winner of Elbakin.net Award for Best Translated Fantasy Novel for Young Readers in France in 2024
- Winner of The Prix des Libraires Jeunesse du Québec (12-17) in 2025
- Winner of The Prix Sorcières in France – Carrément Sorcier Fiction – Passionnant Maxi in France in 2025
Winner of the Strega Children’s Prize 2021She is just a girl now, but she will become a martial artist, the queen of the Chinese sea, the Greatest pirate who ever lived
Canton, 1770. Shi Yu is a six-year-old orphan who works for the quick-tempered innkeeper Bai Bai. At the inn, Yu meets Li Peng, a master in the martial arts of the Air and Water wushu. Yu persuades him to teach her to fight, and her talent is immediately obvious. This skill will save her life a few years later when she is kidnapped by the dreaded Golden Dragon’s pirates: instead of killing her, Golden Dragon enrols her in the crew. This is the beginning of her ascent in the piracy world. After many raids in the Pearl River, Macau and Hong Kong, nineteen-year-old Yu becomes the commander of an entire fleet, which will soon number more than a hundred ships. Her very name terrorises the China Sea, and she seems to be an unstoppable force… But Yu’s fame has unwittingly made her an enemy as powerful as he is mysterious, who will stop at nothing to destroy Air and Water wushu: the legendary martial arts style of which Yu has become the latest master…
By the same author or illustrator
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The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser
A boy turns up at the gates of Nuremberg one spring morning. He is carrying a letter. He doesn’t speak a word of German but he can say his name: Kaspar Hauser. This is the beginning of one of the most mysterious and intriguing new cases of the last two centuries, a case that captivated Germany and beyond, becoming the subject…
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The Legendary Treasure of Hell Gate
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Mysteries of Summer
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My Cat Saw The Killer
When Carla returns home one afternoon, her cat Cucco is acting strange. His paws are wet. He leaves bloody footprints. And just as Carla begins to ask questions, two mysterious officers burst into her home and take them both away. The authorities claim Cucco witnessed a murder. Now, Carla is caught in the middle of a high-tech investigation that uses…
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The You
Blu lives in a town on the shores of an Alpine lake. Nothing special ever happens there. Until one summer day, everything changes. A fisherman dies under mysterious circumstances. A woman hears her dead husband’s voice. Blu hears what sounds like her cousin’s voice, but it can’t be… he lives miles away and Blu’s phone is off… That’s how Blu meets Luka,…
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The Pocket Watch Gang
Four friends with two things in common: three dollars and a burning desire to see the world. For four friends who live on one of the endless Louisiana bayous in early 1900s America, the 1,000-page Walker & Dawn Catalogue is the gateway to a world of hopes. So, when they find three silver dollars, they order an automatic revolver. But…
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Red Stars
Leningrad, 1941. Twins Viktor and Nadya are twelve years old when Hitler’s Germany declares war on the Soviet Union. All the children in the city are loaded onto special trains that take them to safety from the enemy advance, but due to a mistake Viktor and Nadya end up on different trains and lose track of each other. While Nadya…
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The Last Hunter
I am the last hunter and you are the last of your kind. The noise of our fight will make the stars fall from the sky. Florida, 10,000 years ago. The tribe has gone far South in search of the last mastodons, creatures that are very precious for their survival but which are disappearing perhaps due to the violence of…
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The Crimson City Heist
A federal sheriff and a fierce, unpredictable girl who claims to be his half-sister arrive in Crimson City – a dusty, forgotten outpost where nothing ever happens, and nobody ever comes from the south. Their presence disrupts the fragile balance of the town and upends the quiet life of Roy Wilson, the orphan boy adopted by the stationmaster. The strangers…
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Maydala Express
An unforgettable journey towards the last, unknown destination Finally, ten years old and red-haired, lives in Grey City’s immense railway station and works for a company that controls all the trains around the world, obeying wicked Mr Mortimer’s orders. Every day she dreams of escaping… One day she finds a piece of crumpled paper in her pocket, with strange lettering…
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The Lost Flower of the Shaman of K
Peru, 1986. Laila, the daughter of a Finnish diplomat, has spent her childhood moving across Latin America. But her life takes a devastating turn when she is diagnosed with an illness and sent to a hospital in Lima. There, she meets El Rato, the cheekiest scamp of a boy Laila has ever met, who has lived in the hospital all…
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The Fear of the Lion
No one is free from fear, not even the ferocious mountain lion! In fairy tales, everyone cheers for the three little pigs… But in reality, every ecosystem also needs its “big bad” wolf to survive. Predators are fundamental for the natural world where everything pivots between those that run to feed themselves and those that run away to save their…
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The Son of the Sea – Da Mar 1
For many years, nothing important happened in the house. Then, the barbarians arrived. At fourteen, Pietro is just a pig keeper in a quiet Roman province – until the shadow of Attila’s barbarian horde reaches his doorstep. Thrust into the chaos of war, he’s forced to grow up fast: enlisting as a legionary, crossing paths with nobles, forging a deep…
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The Wind Thief – Da Mar 2
For many years, nothing important happened in the house. Then, Angela fished a body out of the canal. Venice, Early Middle Ages. When her once-powerful family falls into disgrace, Angela – the bold daughter of a merchant – disguises herself as a boy and boards a ship bound for Alexandria. Her mission: stop her father’s enemies and restore her family’s…
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The Mysteries of Mercurio 4 – Giotto: Rise Up to the Stars
An old man who lives in the top of a tower in the heart of Florence challenges three friends to a dangerous mission: to discover and solve the hidden mysteries of the art world! ‘Where’s Mercurio got to?’ wonder Nina, Jamal and Lorenzo, worried. They’re outside the Scrovegni Chapel, wearing leggings and ankle boots. The magical blackbird, who has just…
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Owls Family
From the scientist who studied tawny owls in the Finnish woods with a research team, a fascinating educational book on these adorable nocturnal birds of prey. With its funny expression and soft plumage, the tawny owl is an animal that inspires tenderness. In reality, it is a fearsome predator! But it is also a faithful companion (there are almost no…
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TWENTY-FOUR. TimeLoop
On Friday the 19th of May, at 11.56 a.m. in a secondary school in Bologna, a bomb goes off. It’s the worst terrorist attack in Italy’s history, inflicting an incurable wound on the heart of the city. The consequences are tragic. But… the attack never happened and this story actually begins on Thursday the 18th of May at 11.56 a.m.,…
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Twenty-Four. Timeline
On Friday the 19th of May, at 11.56 a.m. in a secondary school in Bologna, a bomb goes off. It’s the worst terrorist attack in Italy’s history, inflicting an incurable wound on the heart of the city. The consequences are tragic. But… the attack never happened and this story actually begins on Thursday the 18th of May at 11.56 a.m.,…
