Conclave

A pope dies suddenly. A scandal involving his conduct is about to break. Jacopo Cardinal Lomeli, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, must preside over the secretive conclave to elect a successor. Inside the locked Sistine Chapel and the Casa Santa Marta, 118 cardinal electors from around the world engage in intense political maneuvering, trading support and leaking information to influence the outcome. Lomeli investigates troubling allegations about leading candidates while a late-arriving cardinal with an unusual background further complicates the balance of power. The narrative builds suspense through the intricate procedures of the election, culminating in a final twist that challenges the foundations of the Church.

Robert Harris, a former journalist and BBC correspondent, is known for meticulously researched historical thrillers like Fatherland and the Cicero trilogy. In Conclave, he turns the arcane procedures of a papal election into a taut, suspenseful narrative. The novel explores power and ambition within religious institutions, the tension between tradition and reform, and the moral struggle of a devout man confronting uncomfortable truths about his Church. Published in the UK by Hutchinson in 2016 and in the US by Alfred A. Knopf later that year, the US hardcover runs 304 pages.

Critical reception was strongly positive. The Guardian called it "a gripping, believable portrait of the inner workings of the Vatican," while The New York Times noted that "Harris turns the arcane procedures of a papal election into a taut, suspenseful narrative." The novel was longlisted for the 2017 CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award. A 2024 film adaptation directed by Edward Berger and starring Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (an Anglicized version of Lomeli) was released by Focus Features on October 25, 2024, to critical acclaim. The book has been translated into multiple languages, including a Hebrew edition by Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir.[edit]