The Stain Drain

Sabina has always kept her suitcase under the bed in her London apartment; a place she can't manage to call home without feeling vaguely fraudulent. It's the symbol of her not-belonging, of the temporary status of the emigrant in the age of low-cost airlines. This same impermanence and restlessness is felt by Dante and Bruno, friends from their undergraduate days in Italy, who reconnect in London. Dante studies the reproductive behaviour of the rock pigeon and is quietly rotting away in the mouldy Department of Zoology at his adopted university and on the Devon moor where he records his inconclusive observations. Bruno comes to join him in the hopes of asserting himself as an artist, throwing himself headlong into an excessive, anarchic and unsustainably multiethnic London, dragging the recalcitrant Dante behind him. The two of them meet Sabina, who works in a rehab centre for homeless alcoholics and immediately widens the cracks in their already troubled friendship. The Stain Drain is a bittersweet comedy which describes the longings, attempts and failures of a generation of a few brains (and many more stains) drained from Italy. "The story distinguishes itself by its lively plot, its joyful and articulate use of language and the indulgent irony with which the author treats his characters." Valetta, La Stamberga dei Lettori "The familiar theme of overseas study is made most enjoyable by the author's brilliant and humorous style." Italo Calvino Literary Prize, 23rd edition ..".a brilliant, fast-moving generational novel with a bitter aftertaste." Grandi & Associati