Irish author Sally Rooney, hailed as the “voice of a generation” after the runaway success of 2018’s Normal People, examines modern love in all its glory and friction in her fourth novel, Intermezzo.
The book, published on September 24, includes all the elements of Rooney’s hugely popular oeuvre: keen observations on relationships, spiky, realistic dialogues played out in Dublin houses, erotic scenes and existential conversations on the patriarchy and capitalism.
The story focuses on two estranged brothers, Peter and Ivan, who come together in the weeks after their father’s death, and the romantic relationships they forge in a delicate period of mourning.
Six years after her debut novel, Conversations with Friends (2017), the characters are now thirtysomethings like the author, and agonise over questions of parenthood and the climate crisis.
Rooney’s pared-back and realistic style has also evolved, with precise dialogues dipping into vivid, internal monologues.
