Summary

Sudden Death tells the story of a tennis match between the Spanish poet Francisco Gómez de Quevedo and the Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio in 16th Century Rome, as well as weaving together the life story of Hernán Cortés and the Spanish conquests in America, the Counter-Reformation in Rome, and a potted history of the game of tennis.

The opening chapter is told from the perspective of an unnamed tennis player, referred to as the Spaniard or the poet throughout. His opponent is referred to as the Italian or the painter. Both players have a linesman: the Spaniard’s is a Duke and the Italian’s is a mathematician. Both players struggled to compete because of their hangovers. The poet won the opening game of the set.

An extract from an 18th Century...