Art history student Robert Leaver has fled from his lover, Curran, to Venice to study the Santa Maria Formosa.

Lina is searching for the grave of her father Victor, suspected of being involved in the poisoning of King Boris and who was killed by Bulgarian Royalists.

Edmund White in The New York Times was very positive, writing, "Once in a while a book comes along that is beautifully put together and effortlessly entertaining; Muriel Spark's Territorial Rights is such a novel.

"[3] Kirkus Reviews concludes, "Occasionally hilarious, sometimes poignant (with Robert's mum back in England), but more often merely the ultimate in offbeat charm — a polished yet subdued Spark-ler from a one-of-a-kind talent.

"[4] However other reviews were scathing, with Edith Milton in the New York magazine complaining that Spark's characters were "so completely passionless that that one does not for one minute suppose that their sexual and temperamental gyrations could be caused by anything deeper than the demand of the narrative.