44 pages 1 hour read

Susanna Clarke

Piranesi

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020

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Part 7Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 7: “Matthew Rose Sorensen”

Part 7, Entry 1 Summary: “Valentine Ketterley has disappeared”

The last section returns to the familiar Gregorian calendar, with six entries for the last week of November 2018.

On the 26th of November, the narrator discusses what is known in London about Ketterley: that he purchased the boat and gun which lead most to believe he committed suicide. One police officer, Jamie Askill, questions Sorensen about being Ketterley’s prisoner. The narrator says he was in a house by the sea where he was free to roam. He also confirms his family convinced him to see a psychotherapist for treatment without medication. When Sorensen admits to liking Raphael, Askill tells a story about another case where Raphael gets an arsonist to stop committing crimes even while her “hair was on fire” (236).

Part 7, Entry 2 Summary: “Matthew Rose Sorensen has reappeared”

On the 27th, the narrator describes the labyrinth without revealing its location to friends and family (he provides only a basic description of the house). While still feeling distant from his pre-labyrinth identity, he allows people in London to accept him as Sorensen and tries to fit into that role by cutting his hair and shaving. Sorensen and Piranesi both loved clothes, but this new self (his third) doesn’t; this identity gets rid of many of Sorensen’s old possessions.