Elisa Banfi Books

"A powerful, emotional debut novel told in the unforgettable voice of a young Nigerian woman who is trapped in a life of servitude but determined to get an education so that she can escape and choose her own future. Adunni is a fourteen-year-old Nigerian girl who knows what she wants: an education. This, her mother has told her, is the only way to get a "louding voice"-the ability to speak for herself and decide her own future. But instead, Adunni's father sells her to be the third wife of a local man who is eager for her to bear him a son and heir. When Adunni runs away to the city, hoping to make a better life, she finds that the only other option before her is servitude to a wealthy family. As a yielding daughter, a subservient wife, and a powerless slave, Adunni is told, by words and deeds, that she is nothing. But while misfortunes might muffle her voice for a time, they cannot mute it. And when she realizes that she must stand up not only for herself, but for other girls, for the ones who came before her and were lost, and for the next girls, who will inevitably follow; she finds the resolve to speak, however she can-in a whisper, in song, in broken English-until she is heard"--

Nobel laureate, international financier, and philanthropist Peter Novak-a billionaire who has committed his life and fortune to fostering democracy around the world through his Liberty Foundation-has been kidnapped. The terrorist known as The Caliph is holding Novak in a near-impenetrable fortress and has refused to negotiate for his release, planning instead to brutally execute his hostage in a matter of days... Running out of time and hope, Novak's people turn to a man with a long history of defeating impossible odds: Paul Janson-a legend in the notorious U.S. covert agency Consular Operations. Janson sets in motion an ingenious rescue operation. But the operation goes horribly wrong and Janson is marked for death, the target of a "beyond salvage" order issued from the highest level of the government. Now Janson is running for his life, pursued by Jessica Kincaid, a young agent of astonishing ability who can anticipate and counter his every move. To survive, Janson must outrace a conspiracy that has gone beyond the control of its originators. To win, he must counter it with a conspiracy of his own...

When twenty-year-old Pat rents a room from handsome and cocky Bruce, she inherits some delightfully colourful neighbours: Domenica, an insightful and eccentric widow; Bertie, a five-year-old whos̕ mastered both saxophone and Italian; and Irene, his overbearing mother. Pats̕ new job at a gallery seems easy enough. Her boss spends most of his time drinking coffee in a local café and discussing matters great and small, and Pats̕ duties are light. That is until she realizes that one of their paintings may be an undiscovered work of a renowned Scottish artist and she discovers that one of their customers may be in on the secret. Add to this a fancy ball, love triangles and an encounter with a famous crime writer, and you have Alexander McCall Smiths̕ entertaining and witty portrait of Edinburgh society.

Dura la vita per gli dei dell'Olimpo nel Ventunesimo secolo. Ridotti a un manipolo di sfaccendati, vivono in una grande casa ormai fatiscente a Hampstead Heath, a Londra. Di Zeus ed Era, confinati al terzo piano, non si sa più nulla da decenni. Ares, il dio della guerra, è l'unico a cui il lavoro non manca mai, mentre Artemide fa la dog-sitter, la splendida Afrodite lavora per una chat-line erotica, Dioniso ha aperto un night club, Eros è diventato cattolico praticante, Apollo cerca la fama in televisione e per vincere la noia va in giro a fare dispetti alle mortali... A spezzare la monotonia di queste grigie e immortali esistenze, entra in scena Alice, una ragazza dolce e onesta quanto ingenua, che bussa alla loro porta per offrirsi come donna delle pulizie (di cui la casa ha più che mai bisogno). Complice una freccia di Eros, Apollo si innamora perdutamente di lei, che però è già fidanzata, o quasi, con Neil, un ingegnere timido e un po' imbranato. Ma il dio del sole non si rassegna a essere rifiutato da una mortale: la sua reazione finirà per scatenare una serie di eventi drammatici, trasformando il divertente romanzo di Marie Phillips in una storia d'amore avventurosa e tenera, sulla scia del mito di Orfeo ed Euridice.

Dieses Buch bietet eine vergleichende Untersuchung islamischer Wohlfahrtsaktivitäten in städtischen Gebieten sowohl in der Schweiz als auch in Italien, um allgemeine Fragen im Zusammenhang mit dem Wohlfahrtsengagement islamischer Organisationen in Europa zu behandeln. "Wohlfahrtsaktivitäten der neuen religiösen Akteure" beschreibt, wie islamische Organisationen in Genf, Mailand, Rom und Zürich koordiniert und strukturiert wurden - vier Städte, die in der Literatur über islamische Wohlfahrt noch nicht analysiert wurden. Untersucht werden auch die institutionellen Möglichkeiten und Beschränkungen, die Formen sozialer religiöser Aktivitäten auf lokaler und internationaler Ebene beeinflussen können, indem es zwei Forschungsbereiche zusammenbringt, die selten miteinander sprechen: die Analyse sozialer Netzwerke und die Theorie politischer Möglichkeiten. Das Buch richtet sich an Soziologen, Anthropologen und Religionswissenschaftler, die sich mit der sozialen und politischen Integration von Muslimen in Europa und den sozialen Aktivitäten islamischer Organisationen in westlichen Ländern beschäftigen Inhaltsverzeichnis 1. Einführung.- 2. Analyse des islamischen Wohlfahrtsaktivismus in westeuropäischen Ländern.- 3. Islamischer soziokultureller Aktivismus in Zürich.- 4. Islamischer soziokultureller Aktivismus in Rom.- 5. Islamischer soziokultureller Aktivismus in Genf - 6. Islamischer soziokultureller Aktivismus in Mailand.- 7. Intranationale und länderübergreifende Datenanalyse.- 8. Schlussfolgerung.