Synopsis Every two years the international art world descends on Venice for the opening of the Biennale. Among them is Jeff Atman—a jaded, dissolutely resolute journalist—whose dedication to the cause of Bellini-fuelled party-going is only intermittently disturbed by the obligation to file a story. But when he meets Laura, he is rejuvenated and falls into a heady love affair with her.

Every day thousands of pilgrims head to the ghats of the Ganges at Varanasi. Among their number is a narrator who may or may not be the Atman previously seen in Venice. Intending to visit only for a few days, he ends up staying interminably. Could the two stories, in these two ancient and watery cities, actually be one and the same?

Profoundly playful, deeply evocative, Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi is an arresting and utterly original story of erotic love and spiritual yearning.