Arturo is a kind and loving kid, raised in Camaldoli, Naples, who lives in a world that is both confined and boundless: family, school, church, habits that in endless repetition mark the edges of his existence. As a child he turns every encounter into a possible form of belonging and such longing for a bond appears in different shapes. Until his classmate Marcello enters the picture, quickly becoming the centre of his attentions and expectations. Then two more figures come along, Cristiano and Margherita, while the adult world continues to interfere with judgements and categories that Arturo wants to escape from. Arturo’s journey is a path down wonder and hunger for the forbidden, from silenced abuses to fierce desire and the want to belong. Starita, in his original way, writes a mature novel, where desire is explored with great honesty.
“Tomorrow, unknown to me, as I shut myself away in my usual, solitary time, marked by the absence of everything, suddenly opened a passage”.
Luca Starita was born in Naples and now lives in Florence,
where he works for Feltrinelli. He is the author of
Canone ambiguo della letteratura queer italiana (effequ 2021),
Pensiero stupendo. Un saggio sul tradimento (effequ 2023) and
Indifesi sotto la notte. Narrazioni dell’Aids in Italia tra gli anni ’80
e ’90 (minimum fax 2026).
Pub date: September 2026
Length: pp. 192