Once you enter the romantic sun-drenched world of Call Me By Your Name, you’ll never want to leave. Luckily for you, André Aciman has written a sequel called Find Me; even luckier, he’s just shared a snippet before its release later this month.
Set 15 years after Elio (played by Timothée Chalamet in Luca Guadagnino’s 2017 film adaption) and Oliver’s (portrayed by Armie Hammer) summer together in Italy, the Vanity Fair-published excerpt picks up in Paris.
Elio is a music teacher finalising a lesson on Beethoven when an older gentleman named Michel pays him a visit. “I must have been beaming,” he narrates. “What a lovely way to surprise someone.”
The pair head to a cafe where they playfully flirt and discuss the perils of love. As he reflects on his past relationships – “all short-lived” – Elio admits he still cares for Oliver, who now lives in the US. “We haven’t spoken in ages,” he tells Michel. “I have a feeling that he suspects that if I never write it’s not because I don’t care but because a part of me still does and always will, just as I know he still cares, which is why he too never writes. And knowing this is good enough for me.”
After conversing some more about love, Michel’s relationship with his son, and their previous date the weekend before, the duo head back to Michel’s house. “How wonderful to have finally said exactly what was on my mind ever since last Sunday,” Elio narrates. “Don’t let me go home tonight.”
Read the full excerpt on Vanity Fair, and look back at André Aciman’s guide to writing a great love story here.
Find Me is out October 29 via Faber & Faber