The Bishop's Bedroom - Couverture souple

"Chiara s engrossing novel of loafing lotharios in post-WWII Italy hums with suspense ... Readers will be swept away by this lush, gothic-tinged mystery and its unscrupulous characters."

Publishers Weekly

"Chiara's brief masterwork turns insinuation into high art ... A first-rate book that is both a moody suspense novel and a haunting allegory."
Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

"For such a wicked and wanton novel, The Bishop's Bedroom is as tightly-controlled and queasily suspenseful as the best of Patricia Highsmith. It seduced me from its atmospheric opening pages to its shocking and satisfying final act."
Christopher Castellani, author of Leading Men

"Piero Chiara s novel is at once a murder mystery and a lyrical study of desire, greed, and deception. The ending is simply stunning."
André Aciman, author of Call Me by Your Name

"Piero Chiara s dark idyll of erotic entanglements in post-WWII Italy was a revelation to me: a character study of sinister power, a beautiful evocation of the dolce vita on Lake Maggiore, and an unnerving portrayal of the predatory sexual mores of another world that mirrors those of our own in the strangest, most unexpected ways."
James Lasdun, author of The Fall Guy and Give Me Everything You Have

"I consider myself to be the son of Piero Chiara ... I was his devoted reader. I've always loved storytellers and Chiara had great powers of seduction."
Andrea Camilleri, author of The Shape of Water

An author universally known in Italy, who has received several literary prizes ... esteemed as one of the most talented of modern novelists.

"Chiara's brief masterwork turns insinuation into high art ... A first-rate book that is both a moody suspense novel and a haunting allegory."

Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

"Happily, this hypnotic novel, a mix of thriller and mood piece on the nature of sexual attraction, has finally been translated into English ... The sexual tension crackles ... The suspense is as palpable as the unmistakable echoes of Patricia Highsmith."

—Booklist

"Piero Chiara s novel is at once a murder mystery and a lyrical study of desire, greed, and deception. The ending is simply stunning."
André Aciman, author of Call Me by Your Name

"I consider myself to be the son of Piero Chiara ... I was his devoted reader. I've always loved storytellers and Chiara had great powers of seduction."
Andrea Camilleri, author of The Shape of Water

Summer 1946. World War Two has just come to an end and there's a yearning for renewal. A man in his thirties is sailing on Lake Maggiore in northern Italy, hoping to put off the inevitable return to work. Dropping anchor in a small, fashionable port, he meets the enigmatic owner of a nearby villa who invites him home for dinner with his older wife and beautiful widowed sister-in-law.

The sailor is intrigued by the elegant waterside mansion, staffed with servants and imbued with mystery, and stays in a guest room previously occupied by a now deceased bishop related to his host. The two men form an uneasy bond, recognising in each other a shared taste for idling and erotic adventure. They soon set sail together, encountering old flames and making new conquests.

But sudden tragedy puts an end to their revels and shatters the tranquillity of the villa...