Devi essere loggato nel pannello di amministrazione per vedere questa pagina!

Literary Fiction

Il mondo senza inverno

(The World Without Winter)

Ugo Guanda Editore, January 2026, pp.240

A gripping dystopian novel set in a near future devastated by natural disasters, where human beings are enslaved by artificial intelligence and democracy has crumbled into a digital dictatorship.

Ahmed has endured far too much: now he has a new family to care for, people worth fighting for, who are not afraid to do what’s right – no matter the cost. For all of them, joining the Resistance is a huge risk, but it is also the only way to save what is left of humanity.

When Marta, her daughter Sara and young Miguel arrive in Scandinavia, leaving behind an Italy devastated by climate catastrophes, they don’t know that from that moment on they will be subjected to a pervasive technological control of their lives.

Ahmed, an aging man who offers them refuge, introduces them to a world ruled by genetically modified humans (UGMs), subdermal chips that monitor their movements, class C citizens abandoned to poverty, and immersive virtual realities that numb the sense of worthlessness.
The promise of a new beginning quickly fades while facing the threat of even more oppressive controls and unacceptable abuse. But surrender is not an option. Guided by Marina – a rebellious UGM leading the underground resistance – Ahmed and his new family choose to fight back. From then on, their only goal will be to fight against that dehumanizing society and not surrender to a life punctuated by algorithms.

Ugo Guanda Editore, January 2026, pp.240

  • «With breathtaking and realistic writing, Arpaia gives us a work that confronts us with our responsibilities and urges us to believe that even in the deepest darkness there is a light to follow.»

    Brunella Schisa, Il venerdì di Repubblica

  • «A courageous, clear-sighted, and necessary exploration of contemporaneity. A work of speculative fiction in the tradition of Margaret Atwood, placing at the heart of events the question “what if”.»

    Sabina Minardi, L'Espresso

  • «A refined prose, at its best in the descriptions of a mistreated nature»

    Nadeesha Uyangoda, Internazionale

  • “a book that can truly be described as both necessary and unsettling (…) a merciless mirror of our present.”

    Rosa Carillo Ambrosio, Il Riformista

  • «Arpaia’s merit lies precisely in a poetics that, although dystopian, is not so extreme as to be dismissed as pure fantasy. And Arpaia’s writing does not disappoint: elegant, linear. Realistically visionary.»

    Mary B. Tolusso, Tuttolibri

  • “Possibilities, scenarios and — in this case — a chillingly plausible near future.”

    Pier Luigi Razzano, La Repubblica

Rights Sold

France: Calmann-Lévy; World Spanish Rights: Fondo de Cultura Económica.

Bruno Arpaia

Bruno Arpaia was born in Ottaviano (Naples) in 1957. He is a journalist, essayist and novelist, and has translated the works of Spanish and Latin-American writers such as José Ortega y Gasset, Gabriel García Márquez and Javier Cercas. All his books are published by Guanda: among them are the novels L’Angelo della Storia/The Angel of History (2001) translated into 8 languages, Il passato davanti a noi/The Past ahead of us (2006), L’energia del vuoto/The Vacuum Energy (2011), Raccontare, resistere/To Tell, to Resist, a conversation with Luis Sepúlveda, the essay L’avventura di scrivere romanzi/The Adventure of Writing Novels with Javier Cercas, the noir Prima della battaglia/Before the Battle (2015), Qualcosa là fuori/ Something, Out There (2018), Il fantasma dei fatti/The Fact Ghost (2020).

We use cookies.

This site uses cookies to improve your browsing experience. By using this site, you consent to the use of cookies described in our Cookie Policy. Also read our Privacy Policy.