Venetian Vespers

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • A NEW YORKER RECOMMENDED BOOK • IRISH BESTSELLER “A stylish escapade that even Henry James might relish." —Wall Street Journal A masterful, enthralling new novel from the Booker Prize winner Everything was a puzzle, everything a trap set to mystify and hinder me. . . . 1899. As the new century approaches, struggling English writer Evelyn Dolman—a hack, by his own description—marries Laura Rensselaer, daughter of an American oil tycoon. Evelyn anticipates that he and Laura will inherit a substantial fortune and lead a comfortable, settled life. But his hopes are dashed when a mysterious rift between Laura and her father, just before the patriarch’s death, leads to her disinheritance. The unhappy newlyweds travel to Venice to celebrate the New Year at the Palazzo Dioscuri, ancestral home of the charming but treacherous Count Barbarigo. From their first moments in the mist-blanketed floating city, otherworldly occurrences begin to accumulate. Evelyn’s already jangled nerves fray further. Where has Laura disappeared to? How to explain the increasingly sinister circumstances closing around him? Could he be losing his mind? Venetian Vespers is a haunting, atmospheric novel from one of the most sophisticated stylists of our time.
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A SUNDAY TIMES AND TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR, SHORTLISTED FOR THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARDS 2025 FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SNOW AND THE SEA Everything was a puzzle, everything a trap set to mystify and hinder me. . . Winter 1899, and strange things are afoot. As the new century approaches, English hack writer Evelyn Dolman marries Laura Rensselaer, the daughter of a wealthy American plutocrat. But in the midst of a rift between Laura and her father, Evelyn's plans for a substantial inheritance look to be dashed. Arriving in Venice for their belated honeymoon at Palazzo Dioscuri - the ancestral home of the charming but treacherous Count Barbarigo - the couple are met by a series of seemingly otherworldly occurrences, which exacerbate Evelyn's already frayed nerves. Is it just the sea mist blanketing the floating city, or is he really losing his mind? 'A marvellous and rewarding novelist . . . He is a magician, really.' THE SCOTSMAN 'Banville has a grim gift of seeing people's souls.' DON DeLILLO 'The most eminent innovator in Irish fiction of the last 50 years.' IRISH TIMES 'One of my favourite writers alive.' REBECCA F. KUANG 'Banville writes prose of such luscious elegance.' NEW YORK TIMES