Laughter and Gloom in the Trading Room

LAUGHTER AND GLOOM IN THE TRADING ROOM

Radu Moraru, an expatriate down on his luck, works as a security guard in a French stock market room.

Through zany situations, we meet a golden boy who hits the jackpot during the night of Brexit, a "stock market cripple" who has not sold his soul to finance, a "loser" who ends his trading career with a bang, a Romanian ex-hacker who doesn't like the French, a workaholic who loses his marbles while looking for his keys, a broker who undergoes a spiritual awakening in an elevator stuck between two floors, and a bad-ass manager who finds a pile of feces on her desk.

Radu's inquisitive behavior toward bankers raises suspicions. A trader digs into his past and discovers he is more than just a security guard. Radu's short-lived celebrity catapults him into the arms of an exec who carries vibrators and offshore company files in her suitcase. After months of champagne, seafood, and escapades to tax havens, he must decide: Should he continue to play the game imposed by his mistress or be fired?

Born in communist Romania, Mitrache immigrated to America as a young man. His plays have been performed in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and the Avignon Festival. His first novel, La Travers?e du Styx (Crossing the Danube), was published by Deno?l, Paris.