Join us

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Newsletter

Paolo Milone

The Art of Binding People

Cover: The Art of Binding People - Paolo Milone

Paolo Milone

The Art of Binding People

2023, pp. 160, Paperback
ISBN: 9781787704510
Translated by: Lucy Rand
Region: Italy
Available as ebook Available as ebook Available as ebook
£ 14.99

The book

A moving and transformative journey into the most mysterious, heartbreaking, and awe-inspiring corners of the human mind

“One of the most unusual, beautiful, and poetic literary works on mental illness I’ve ever read.”
—Nicola Lagioia, La Repubblica

“Full of irony, intelligence, and lyricism.”
Corriere della Sera

 “A powerful hymn to compassion towards ourselves and others.”
Grazia (Italy)

We often speak of doctors as heroes, martyrs, or victims. Drawing from forty years of experience on an emergency psychiatric ward, Paolo Milone offers a more complex—and more compelling—picture. He transports us inside Ward 77, where mental illness coexists with the ordinary lives of those who, at the end of their shifts, take their white coats off. 

In this unsettling, absorbing, and transformative memoir Milone challenges many of our assumptions about mental health, as we follow nurses, doctors, and patients along the hospital corridors, and we enter the shattered lives of those living on both sides of the invisible, arbitrary bundary, that separates the healthy from the sick.

Told with humour and compassion, Paolo Milone’s English language debut is a work of striking humanity that conjures lasting beauty out of the darkness.

The author

Paolo Milone
Paolo Milone was born in Genoa in 1954. He has worked as a psychiatrist for over forty years, first in a mental health clinic, then in an emergency psychiatric ward. The Art of Binding People is his first book.

Books by region

  • Cover: The Brittle Age - Donatella Di Pietrantonio

    Donatella Di Pietrantonio

    The Brittle Age

    2025, pp. 192, £ 14.99
    A powerful mother-and-daughter story, a profound exploration of human fragility, and of the haunting shadows of the past
  • Cover: The Bishop's Villa - Sacha Naspini

    Sacha Naspini

    The Bishop's Villa

    2025, pp. 220, £ 14.99
    A WWII story of love, redemption, and resistance.
  • Cover: The House of Gazes - Daniele Mencarelli

    Daniele Mencarelli

    The House of Gazes

    2024, pp. 224, £ 14.99
    A powerful coming-of-age story about loss, identity, and rebirth.
  • Cover: The Mortal and Immortal Life of the Girl from Milan - Domenico Starnone

    Domenico Starnone

    The Mortal and Immortal Life of the Girl from Milan

    2024, pp. 144, £ 14.99
    An enchanting story, in the unique voice of one of Italy’s greatest contemporary writers.
  • Cover: The Passenger: Naples - AA.VV.

    AA.VV.

    The Passenger: Naples

    2024, pp. 192, £ 18.99
    For better or worse, Naples always amazes.
  • Cover: Shifting the Moon from its Orbit - Andrea Marcolongo

    Andrea Marcolongo

    Shifting the Moon from its Orbit

    2024, pp. 144, £ 13.99
    A reflection on loss, memory, and what we owe to the past, inspired by a night spent in Athens’ Acropolis Museum.

More suggestions

  • Cover: The Passenger: Thailand - AA.VV.

    AA.VV.

    The Passenger: Thailand

    2025, pp. 192, £ 18.99
    “These books are so rich and engrossing that it is rewarding to read them even when one is stuck at home.”—The TLS
  • Cover: Displaced. Civilians in the Russia-Ukraine War - Valery Panyushkin

    Valery Panyushkin

    Displaced. Civilians in the Russia-Ukraine War

    2025, pp. 240, £ 9.99
    A Russian journalist’s first-hand account of the heartbreak and resilience of ordinary Ukrainians faced with Putin’s aggression.
  • Cover: A Rebel in Gaza: A Daughter of Rafah Speaks - Asmaa Alghoul, Sélim Nassib

    Asmaa Alghoul, Sélim Nassib

    A Rebel in Gaza: A Daughter of Rafah Speaks

    2024, pp. 208, £ 14.99
    “Gaza has always been rebellious... stubborn, addictive. I’m her daughter, and I look like her.”
  • Cover: The Passenger: Naples - AA.VV.

    AA.VV.

    The Passenger: Naples

    2024, pp. 192, £ 18.99
    For better or worse, Naples always amazes.
  • Cover: Shifting the Moon from its Orbit - Andrea Marcolongo

    Andrea Marcolongo

    Shifting the Moon from its Orbit

    2024, pp. 144, £ 13.99
    A reflection on loss, memory, and what we owe to the past, inspired by a night spent in Athens’ Acropolis Museum.
  • Cover: Displaced. Civilians in the Russia-Ukraine War - Valery Panyushkin

    Valery Panyushkin

    Displaced. Civilians in the Russia-Ukraine War

    2024, pp. , £ 14.99
    A Russian journalist’s first-hand account of the heartbreak and resilience of ordinary Ukrainians faced with Putin’s aggression.