L’ape regina

Lucas Bentivoglio is sixteen and has a few all-consuming passions: the actress Gal Gadot, Daisy—the shop assistant at the local mall—and the Bologna-based superheroes of the 1940s: the Partisan, the Felsinean Lightning, Sergeant Two Towers, and even the implausible, embarrassing Drone Man. He hasn’t spoken to his grandfather in years; the old man lives in a gloomy villa with his childlike lover.

Lamia Lerici is twenty, and everyone thinks she’s crazy. She isn’t: she has lived since birth with Tarantula, a psychic little spider that resides in her brain and can create realistic illusions. Lamia is stunning, desired by everyone, but she evaluates potential relationships according to the high standards of a TV series called Doctor Who.

When Lucas discovers that he is the grandson of one of those four Bologna superheroes—heir to his powers and his costume—and that he is destined to face the Queen Bee, herself the granddaughter of a Nazi supervillain, their paths will inevitably cross…