John Domini

A unique take on the recovery narrative. A damaged but savvy author finds new wholeness by way of a fascinating old city: Naples, Italy. Domini's exploration of the place-- little known to North Americans, yet rich in culture and challenge-- draws on decades of research, living with local friends and family. "Stirring, remarkable, and multifaceted"

-- Jef Jackson, author of DESTROY ALL MONSTERS.

"The narrative has its... share of mobsters, cops and bloodshed, but for Domini these are mainly pegs upon which to explore Risto’s sense of displacement and belonging. ... Domini’s novel pushes the noir―and us―out of well-worn ruts."

―The Washington Post

"Secrets and lies in a city on the edge... It twists, turns, then coils into a scorpion's sting." -- Marlon James, Booker Prize winner 

An earthquake has Naples reeling, and especially the people on Italy's margins― the illegal immigrants known as the clandestini. One has been horrifically murdered.
Enter Risto, a rare success story: a refugee from Mogadishu, now married to the Neapolitan Paola, and the proprietor of a celebrated art gallery. The murder recalls the deaths of his loved ones years ago in Mogadishu, a trauma Risto can’t outrun.

"Thoroughly entertaining."

-- Vanity Fair

A set of linked short stories that delights and exploits industrial Hollywood. The collection delves into a night at the movies, featuring all the familiar types -- the rom-com, the superhero, and more-- but the narratives are still under construction, and so an opportunity for unimaginable twists. Motive and identity shift constantly, these people move us strangely, and the stunted shoptalk of the movie business somehow takes on the wit of Steve Erickson’s Zeroville and the inventive spirit of Italo Calvino’s Cosmicomics.

A witty and spophisticated examination of nontraditional storytelling in contempory literature and other arts. The many authors discussed range from Toni Morrison to W.G Sebald, from Italo Calvino to Carole Maso.

"Freewheeling critiques of hard-to-define books...Poetic and philosophical about postmodern novels, movies, even comics... enlightening." -- Publishers Weekly 

"Playful prose, intellectual depth, covering a great range of texts... A treat for the literary geek in each of us." -- Electric Literature 

"Domini is a master of suspense and psychological complexity. An edgy, richly peopled, and thoroughly absorbing novel." -- Margot Livesey, author The Road From Belhaven 

"Few novels stand up to the promise of a tour de force, but... this is a both a delightful investigation of the Naples underground and a moving coming-of-age story.... Wonderful." -- Jay Parini, author The Last Station

"The second installment in Domini's Naples trilogy rolls history and mystery into one powerful story. Domini gets it and gets it right. ...Highly imaginative scenes keep mental wheels spinning." -- Fra Noi