‘An Italian novel of imperfect love and urgent grief’
NEW YORK TIMES
‘A novel of dignified beauty’
OBSERVER
‘A masterly piece of writing, rich with insight and detail, and a curiously moving optimism’
GAY TIMES
‘A discreet, lyrical meditation on the nature of male love’
EDMUND WHITE
Thomas, a young German musician, is dying. His older boyfriend, a renowned Italian writer named Leo, finds it impossible to watch the slow and inevitable demise of his lover; he condemns himself to moving cities every few weeks instead, in the hope of finding a semblance of peace.
He travels through Europe where past and present overlap, years merge and faces emerge – and where reminders of the life he and Thomas shared are on every corner. Leo’s memories become clearer with every road he takes, much as he wishes he could simply forget. Wanting to preserve the passion of their relationship, Leo had forced Thomas to live separately: in separate rooms, separate towns, with separate lives. But now, face to face with true solitude, Leo must finally reckon with the impossible striving of memory to recreate life and, ultimately, cross an ocean to find the strength to go on.
André Aciman’s Call Me by Your Name meets Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous: Separate Rooms is a singular and unforgettable meditation on almost-ideal love, told in three musical movements, by a fiery and unforgettable literary talent.
NEW YORK TIMES
‘A novel of dignified beauty’
OBSERVER
‘A masterly piece of writing, rich with insight and detail, and a curiously moving optimism’
GAY TIMES
‘A discreet, lyrical meditation on the nature of male love’
EDMUND WHITE
Thomas, a young German musician, is dying. His older boyfriend, a renowned Italian writer named Leo, finds it impossible to watch the slow and inevitable demise of his lover; he condemns himself to moving cities every few weeks instead, in the hope of finding a semblance of peace.
He travels through Europe where past and present overlap, years merge and faces emerge – and where reminders of the life he and Thomas shared are on every corner. Leo’s memories become clearer with every road he takes, much as he wishes he could simply forget. Wanting to preserve the passion of their relationship, Leo had forced Thomas to live separately: in separate rooms, separate towns, with separate lives. But now, face to face with true solitude, Leo must finally reckon with the impossible striving of memory to recreate life and, ultimately, cross an ocean to find the strength to go on.
André Aciman’s Call Me by Your Name meets Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous: Separate Rooms is a singular and unforgettable meditation on almost-ideal love, told in three musical movements, by a fiery and unforgettable literary talent.
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Reviews
A discreet, lyrical meditation on the nature of male love
A novel of dignified beauty
Tondelli's was a meticulous talent, precise and particular, his writing full of nicely observed detail and an almost microscopic view of everyday things and feelings
A masterly piece of writing, rich with insight and detail, and a curiously moving optimism
An Italian novel of imperfect love and urgent grief