A debut novel inspired by the true story of the author's grandparents, tracing the slow-burn love story between a Catholic priest and a progressive theology teacher across Rome and England during the twentieth century.
Impressively, A Private Man is sensuous but never salacious ... The ecstasies of attraction are sublimated into their long conversations about Boethius and Hildegard von Bingen, or about the suddenly debatable issues of contraception and clerical celibacy ... Those two qualities—gravity and passion—characterize this standout debut.
An unusual family history ... Lush, evocative and sexy ... Sy-Quia’s great skill is in conjuring up whole landscapes and states of mind in a few words — the stylistic economy learnt through writing poetry — and here it is on great display ... A truly impressive debut novel, one I could see appearing on the Booker longlist, and which I’ll want to read and reread in the years to come.
Based on the story of the author’s grandparents, Sy-Quia’s restrained, chiselled prose will delight admirers of Elizabth Bowen and Anita Brookner, where the orderliness of the surface underlines the emotional churning beneath.
