Paola Peretti: Filippo, Me and the Cherry Tree (Hot Key Books 2022)
Three years have passed since Mafalda was left in the dark. The dark gray fog from her illness now completely fills her eyes, only the red color can penetrate it. Mafalda is already quite used to her new life. She always knows what time it is, she navigates in their apartment, she goes to school almost entirely alone and her sense of smell has become very sensitive. She can even smell joy and sadness in the air. There are things she can do in the dark: she takes notes with her voice recorder, plays the guitar or listens to an audiobook. She still dreams in color. She also has plans for the future: she wants to be a musician or a writer, she wants to travel by plane and she wants to be Filippo’s best friend forever. She will be 13 now and has to face growing up.
In the continuation of the bittersweet story, we can not only look into the life of Mafalda, but also her parents and acquaintances. Sometimes life is not easy for grown-ups either and they would like to hide from the world. Luckily, there is someone who will find them. Mafalda is a very kind and sensitive little girl, who is not deterred by her blindness from making her dreams come true. I recommend the book to everyone with my whole heart.
Paola Peretti is an Italian author, studied literature and philosophy, then graduated in journalism. The Distance Between Me and the Cherry Tree is her first book, which was inspired by her own illness, since she also has Stargardt syndrome. Many of the problems that Mafalda encountered, she had to face herself. She started writing the book in a creative writing school and the teacher was so satisfied with the way she portrayed the feelings of a little girl that she chose Mafalda as the main character, although she was afraid that it would be difficult for her to write due to her own illness. By the end of the story, however, it had a therapeutic effect on her.
