A novel of family set in PROVENCE
Talking Location With … Kim Sherwood: VENICE
24th May 2024
#TalkingLocationWith … Kim Sherwood, author of A Spy Like Me:
From Venice with Love: Expanding the World of James Bond in A Spy Like Me
But at last there was Mestre and the dead straight finger of rail across the eighteenth-century aquatint into Venice. Then came the unfailing shock of the beauty that never betrays and the soft swaying progress down the Grand Canal into a blood-red sunset, and the extreme pleasure – so it seemed – of the Gritti Palace that Bond should have ordered the best double room on the first floor. That evening, scattering thousand-lira notes like leaves in Vallombrosa, James Bond sought, at Harry’s Bar, at Florian’s, and finally upstairs in the admirable Quadri, to establish to anyone who might be interested that he was what he had wished to appear to the girl – a prosperous writer who lived high and well.
This is James Bond’s first association with Venice. It comes in the short story ‘Risico’ (1960), where Ian Fleming perfectly captures the defiant glamour of a city built on a lagoon. The relationship is cemented in films From Russia With Love (1963), Moonraker (1979) and Casino Royale (2006). Venice was a natural choice then as a location for A Spy Like Me, my latest novel expanding the world of James Bond for the Ian Fleming Estate.
A smuggling ring is funding a vast network of terror, and agents Joseph Dryden (004) and Conrad Harthrop-Vane (000) are on the tracks of an antiquities dealer as the Venice Biennale opens, the world’s biggest art show. I attended the 2022 preview of the Venice Biennale to research A Spy Like Me, mixing with artists offering visions for a better of future and heads of state there to decide it. As someone said to me, looking around at a gathering of powerbrokers: ‘I’m not saying there have been murders here, but I can see spies…’
The Biennale takes over the island, with the Arsenale, Gardens, canals and homes 
transformed into living galleries. It’s like stepping into a dream, but the real world is never far away. With no cars, roads or modern buildings, Venice is still host to contemporary clashes, whether it’s cruise ships and the climate crisis threatening the sinking lagoon or global tensions played out across cultural exchanges. In 2022, Russian artists boycotted their own pavilion to protest the invasion of Ukraine; this month, Israeli artists boycotted their pavilion to demand a ceasefire in Gaza and return of the hostages.
Returning in April to celebrate the publication of A Spy Like Me, I felt like I was walking in the footsteps of my characters. This year’s show presents a radical and deeply moving exhibition foregrounding marginalised and indigenous communities. You can catch it until November.
The cocktail of travel, culture, glamour and geopolitics that is Venice is the same cocktail we enjoy with James Bond. If that’s your drink of choice, grab a copy of A Spy Like Me, hop on a gondola and let’s go…
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The Grand Canal and Piazza San Marco.
To follow Joseph Dryden, take a water taxi or vaporetto up The Grand Canal (where Daniel Craig helmed the first sailing boat to traverse the water in 300 years) and alight at The Rialto, squeezing down the narrow street over mosaicked adverts for extinct airlines and past Harry’s Bar, Bond’s drinking spot. Duck in for a martini (or very nice cake). If it’s late enough, you’ll see the Palazzo Ducale, Bascilica and Campanile lit by what seems like a thousand candles, reflected in soapy puddles as children run around blowing bubbles. Don’t miss the Torre dell’Orologio, the decorated clock face destroyed by Roger Moore, which (happily intact) is responsible for giving Dryden a vital epiphany. Visit my Instagram for a tour of Bond highlights on the square.
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Ca’Guistinian
004 and 000 attend a cocktail party at Ca’Guistinian palace, the headquarters of The Biennale, where they pick up a vital clue. The palace sometimes hosts exhibitions so it’s worth visiting if you can – the rooftop offers the best view in the city. Take a look here.
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The Biennale Gardens
The Central Exhibition begins in The Gardens, where you’ll also find pavilions built by participating countries since 1895. It’s a parade of different architectural styles, as fun for building-watching as for people-watching, and offers a unique way to experience art from different cultures side-by-side. Follow 004 and 000’s game of cat and mouse through the park. Check out my Instagram for a video.
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The Arsenale
The Central Exhibition continues in The Arsenale, the secretive shipyard complex at the heart of Venice, where craftsman with empire-building (or ruining) knowledge were born and died, never allowed beyond the walls. Follow Dryden here from the Gardens, and make the most of the Biennale to gain access to this usually hidden world.
Author in the Arsenal
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Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello
Dryden then makes his way to the music conservatory by stealing a police boat. However, if you’re not in a deadly race against time, hop on a vaporetto. The conservatory is unusual, monochromatic stone standing out against Venice’s blushing orange and gleaming turquoise palette. It’s another iconic site for Bond fans, and if you’re anything like me you’ll stride across the courtyard like Roger Moore and then weave between columns dodging fire like Daniel Craig. 004 and 000 duel with the enemy in the courtyard and then the library. Visit and listen to piano practice filtering through the windows. If it’s Biennale season, a collateral exhibition will also let you wander the building itself.
Final tip: if you’re after the old-world glamour offered by Bond, visit Ile Baule Blue, a vintage shop so vintage it doesn’t 
even have a website. It’s where I picked up the 1940s dress I wore to the launch party for A Spy Like Me. Tell them I say ciao!
KIM SHERWOOD
Catch the author on TwitterX @kimtsherwood and Instagram @kimtsherwood
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