Adalina and the Love of Books

Even as a child, Adalina loved the rattling sound of the Bibliomotocarro – the little library on wheels that Maestro La Cava would bring to her tiny Italian mountain village, brimming with stories. Years later, now a writer herself, she returns home and stumbles across the abandoned bookmobile in a garage. But there is no sign of the old maestro.

When Adalina learns that the book tours have been suspended since the maestro had been involved in a minor accident, she realises that the Bibliomotocarro needs her. Her attempt to save it takes her through narrow alleys and wild landscapes to memories she thought she’d forgotten and children's eyes gleaming with happiness. She finds new friends and, in the charming Gianluca, someone who gives her hope. But can she simply leave her life in Pisa behind and reconcile with her family after years of estrangement, all for the sake of the Bibliomotocarro?

With warmth and lightness, Tessa Hansen tells of the power of literature to build bridges between generations – and to change your whole life.