Separate Rooms by Pier Vittorio Tondelli

The rediscovered gay cult classic, published in English for the first time in thirty years

'A classic of Italian gay fiction . . . the whole thing is bathed in elegiac pathos'
SUNDAY TIMES

'A story of love and youth and pain that will have you clutching at your heart . . . Surely one of the best novels I've ever read'
ANDREW SEAN GREER, author of LESS and VILLA COCO

'Beautiful and poignant'
THE TIMES

With an introduction by André Aciman, bestselling author of Call Me by Your Name

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.

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 regret and nostalgia and the impossible striving of memory to recreate life.

'An Italian novel of imperfect love and urgent grief'
NEW YORK TIMES

'A stunning novel . . . prepare to be deeply moved'
JACK PARLETT, author of Fire Island

'A discreet, lyrical meditation on the nature of male love'
EDMUND WHITE

'Confronting and revelatory . . . Tondelli's novel reminds us that there are many ways to love'
ANOTHER MAGAZINE

Soon to be a major film directed by Luca Guadagnino (and rumoured to feature a very special Heated Rivalry star... )