Tears of salt, a story of a doctor, authored by Pietro Bartolo and Lydia Tilo.

When he returns to the port with his bounty, his face is usually white covered with salt, sea water splashes on the face burned by the sun, leaving behind a mask of salt. A mask that reveals and does not hide, a mask that shows the authenticity of existence and leaves no room for falsification. I see the same mask on the faces of desperate migrants, who spent long days at sea, tossed by the waves. Whenever I see them like this, I think of my father. They are all children of the sea itself. My father would return home tired each time, but he was never defeated. The pains he felt worsened, and the tears that sometimes traced his cheeks would dissolve, leaving their salt on his skin. Those were tears of salt. In recent years, the name Lampedusa has frequently appeared in news headlines, the rocky island located fifty miles from the southern coast of Italy, after it became the most common destination for hundreds of thousands of refugees from Africa and the Middle East fleeing extreme poverty, civil wars, and terrorism, seeking a new life in Europe. Dr. Pietro Bartolo, who managed the island's only medical clinic to receive and care for them, alive and dead, for more than a quarter of a century. The book "Tears of Salt" is a moving autobiography of Dr. Bartolo's life and work, and his confrontation with one of the worst tragedies of our time. Dr. Bartolo narrates what cannot be forgotten of stories of pain and hope, stories of those who lost and others who survived. Tears of Salt is an intimate literary portrait of an extraordinary man with a clear message: "We will never allow our fears to rule us." Translation: Mohamed A. Gamal Number of pages: 203