Pier Vittorio Tondelli’s Separate Rooms reaches bookshops this month after several decades out of print. Originally published in Italian in 1989, the novel first appeared in English in 1992. That original translation by Simon Pleasance is reissued here in a stylish new paperback edition by Sceptre.
The novel begins with a brilliant first chapter. Our main character, Leo, sits on an aeroplane, gazing out over the Alps. As the plane descends, we learn that his lover, Thomas, has recently passed away and Leo faces the prospect of arriving at an airport where no one is waiting for him. The narrative then follows Leo as he travels across Europe, each city and street evoking a particular memory of Thomas.
One of those novels where plot takes a backseat to long meditations on culture, philosophy, and religion, there are moments in Tondelli’s novel that call to mind the films of Éric Rohmer. Both share a love for allowing characters to engage in extended conversations about anything and everything.
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There is a refreshing worldliness to Tondelli’s characters and his own street-by-street knowledge of numerous cities across Europe that suggest the man would have been a fascinating dinner guest. The prose, too, despite appearing in a decades-old translation, feels anachronistically modern. It is every bit as fresh as anything André Aciman or Seán Hewitt would be writing today. Despite his untimely death in 1991, Tondelli has made a welcome return to the queer canon.
Separate Roomsby Pier Vittorio Tondelli is out now (Sceptre, £16.99). You can buy it from the Big Issue shop on bookshop.org, which helps to support Big Issue and independent bookshops.
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