Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
BOOKSHOPS IN IRELAND have been gearing up for what promises to be a busy day with Irish author Sally Rooney’s new novel Intermezzo going on sale this morning.
Shops have been weighing up whether they should open early to meet the demand and shift some copies during rush hour today.
“The buzz will be mighty,” said Lily Keoghan of Waterstones in Cork city.
“We’ve always been massive Sally Rooney fans,” she said of the staff there.
Last time Rooney released a book, her novel Beautiful World: Where Are You, was “a really fun day”, Keoghan said, adding that not many books come with this kind of attention.
In fact, a Harry Potter book release may have been the only comparable event, Keoghan said.
“There’s no bigger publishing event this year.”
Waterstones will have some “goodies” for the first few customers in the door this morning, she said. They also have a limited number of special editions that feature an extra short story.
Hodges Figgis on Dawson Street in Dublin city centre are opening at 8am – an hour earlier than normal – in anticipation of the high demand for the acclaimed author’s fourth novel.
“The build up has been quite exciting,” said shop manager Tony Hayes.
Pre-sale orders, he said, have been particularly strong and the shop has stocked up on roughly 1,000 copies in advance of what is expecting to be a bumper day of sales.
“We’ve gone heavy on it,” Hayes said, adding that the shop also expects the novel to be one of the marquee books this Christmas.
Rooney’s previous works have earned her an avid following not just in Ireland but around the world. Two of her novels, Normal People and Conversations With Friends, have been adapted in the form of television shows.
But Hayes said the interest in Intermezzo has been more intense than for her previous novels, which he puts down to the glowing reviews it has received.
The Guardian called it “utterly perfect”, The Irish Times described it as “bold, adventurous and captivating”, while the Financial Times said it was “a return to exceptional form”.
Not everyone is heaping praise on Intermezzo though; a review in the Irish Independent criticised it for lacking a female perspective.
The story follows two grieving brothers as they struggle with the death of their father.
The fact that the book is being released on a Tuesday has left some unsure about how to deal with the launch, said Tom Hoban, a manager at Dubray Books on Grafton Street in Dublin, who described it as “a bit of an odd one”.
He said he has “a basement full to the brim” with copies of the book.
Hoban said that while Dubray normally opens at 9am, he might make the call to let Rooney fans in sometime after he gets in at 7.30am.
He expects it to be a busy day all day though, and says the shop will have some extra staff on hand to meet the demand.
Hodges Figgis will be doing the same. Tony Hayes said that a midweek launch is preferable, as it means people can pick up a copy early on their way to work or college.
He said a Tuesday morning launch makes particular sense for a Sally Rooney book, as her readership is made up largely of young adults.
Louisa Earls of Books Upstairs in Dublin said they were “really excited” about the release.
“All of us here have read the advance copy Faber sent us, and we all agree it’s her best book yet.
“As soon as the book went up for pre-order, we had dozens of orders come through straight away and they haven’t let up since.”
Books Upstairs is opening two hours early, at 8am, and any customers who purchases a copy between then and 10am will get a free coffee.
“There’s also lots of fantastic limited edition merch that Faber have sent us, so the early birds will be first in line for lots of Intermezzo tote bags, tshirts, etc!”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Disgraceful behavior.
The orders should be asked for nothing, all properties should be confiscated and sold with proceeds going to the slaves, because that’s exactly what they were.
Where’s Kenny with his tears now?
Sorry, can’t do it. Bertie let them all off the hook, in writing, about ten years ago. You can easily check the records of that. I believe that has cost us about 1.3 billion so far. Good old Bertie, goes to mass every day does Bertie.
Bingo,the man with the ash on his forehead,i bet even that was paid for by the taxpayers.
Sorry, we can do it.
Emergency legislation.
That can be done overnight.
Give them a TD’s salary and pension. They were forced to do more work than any of our dear politicians ever have.
The church needs to step up to the mark and pay its share, but you just know this wont happen even if it is overwhelmingly obvious that its the morally correct thing to do. Plus they can well afford it.
In my opinion the catholic church should have their tax exemption revoked and all the money that is collected as tax is used to pay for all the atrocities committed by the church and facilitated by the state.
Amazing how the struggle for justice seems to be transforming into the pursuit of money now.
So Egg Mcmuffin, you’d be content with just an apology???
These women were locked away for years for doing nothing, forced to work against their will, made huge profits for the so called religious orders & didn’t see a f**king red cent of it after all their hard work.
These women deserve a hell of a lot more than this pathetic shower of sh!te in Government have offered them.
I heard on Rte radio one woman say “I’ve been offered 30,000 but what can you do with 30,000 these days” I couldn’t believe it !
@ Paul – Compare that 30k with the 450k Mary Harney was awarded for the trauma suffered by an inference that she “maybe” an alcoholic by a media outlet to see the injustice of the offer/insult. In the eyes of the establishment normal people are virtually worthless. This appalling attitude has to change.
Seems the higher amounts will be paid off as a monthly pension rather then a lump sum. Seems the state is hoping to save some money.
Powerful and peaceful protest is what gets things done. These women have come so far on their own, they need our support. It does work!
Want to see people power and peaceful protest in action, not lying down and taking their beating.
Yesterday a group of Ogra FF’ers tried to hijack the SNA protest. Banners and T-shirts for a photo opportunity.
The parents saw right through it and ran them off, not before several party activists got in to shouting matches with the mothers.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=689393737752688&set=vb.100000462053828&type=2&theater
These people are standing up to the worst in our society in a very small way. Holding and forcing people to respect others, respect the Irish people, respect our children rather than force them to emigrate as all my own had to.
Look at the arrogance and contempt on their faces as they look at the parents.
What will you do to day or will you lie back and let people like that rule and ruin your future as they have our past and the lives of these women or will you wait your turn.
Cheers for the link, very interesting viewing. Should serve to burnish up the brass neck of the next generation of ffers, I’m sure they’ll get good use from them. Looks to me that they had no intention of moving until the guy in the shirt sleeves landed over, sure why would the opinions of the sheeple matter, right?
They told people to clear a space so that a photo could be taken when Micheal Martin came over.
If they even pretended that they were there for more than the photo shoot it would have been ok. They didn’t were rude to people and it turned in to a PR disaster.
What genius think that having a go at the mother of a Special Needs Kid, at an SNA cut is politically smart.
What’s the bottom line for these women? How much will be creamed off before they see a penny of this money?
This so called scheme pay victims in instalments. And therefore the Government will save money if they die. The average age of these abuse victims is 68yrs old, many ill and frail. This Government have No Morals or values. How low can they go???
Catholic Church and State hand in glove in acting the boxxocks. Is anyone really surprised?
If they got 100,000 each they still wouldnt be happy
And nor should they be as that only represents one years salary for a TD. Compensation has to hurt the offender to prevent future crimes. The equivalent of a TD’s salary per time served in these prisons would be fair.
Compo compo compo
Why should they be ‘happy’, if you were enslaved, tortured, abused and abandoned, by the people who were there to love and care for you how would you feel?
I do believe that many of these women had been misled into thinking that they were in for lottery type money. The overall compensation offered does not seem unreasonable and it should be about providing some physical comforts for the recipients in their least days rather than building a nest egg for a future generation as one of the women complained about.
I wonder if their deal is a good as the one the haemophiliacs got? Seems to be shaping up the same. Wait long enough and the problem goes away. Hard to be ‘proud to be irish’ when you see what the government does and the people think. Over and over and over again! I wonder whats next?
for many of ‘the haemophiliacs’ (nice) the ‘deal’ included a lonely, painful, untimely death. your comparison is simplistic and disrespectful to all parties.
for many of ‘the haemophiliacs’ (nice) the ‘deal’ included a lonely, painful, untimely death. your comparison is simplistic and disrespectful to all parties.
Firstly I was comparing the Tactic used not the suffering endured. But as you mentioned it, with the greatest respect to the Hemophiliacs, no-one has a monopoly on suffering. It is impossible to measure the impact of slavery, physical and mental abuse suffered by those young girls. How many suicides, broken homes, tragedies were as a consequence. And finally the pain inflict on hemophiliacs and there families was we are told accidental. The pain and suffering on the young girls was deliberate, intentional and supported by the state with the general approval of the church going god fearing population. I do not think my comparison is in any way disrespectful or simplistic.
Justice for the Magdalene Survivors , dont give up the fight for proper Justice . The decent people of Ireland are with you all the way , stay strong & never ever give up
Justice or money?
As Justice is unlikely given the governments complicity and the churches power. I think money is the better option. Don’t you?
Bailing out the banks bailing out the church it all lands on our shoulders and our children’s, ridiculous that with all the money of the Catholic Church the Vatican etc that they are not contributing to the hideous crimes committed against these poor women
Coming soon to a mass near you…a special collection for “The Magdalene fund”.
The proceeds of same would probably go towards the RCC’s legal costs in denying any financial or any other responsibility towards these women. A truly sick and twisted mentality is at the heart of the RCC.
The taxpayer is footing the bill here and they have their apology along with a staggered 100k, pensions from the state regardless of current financial status, medical card and extra medical services excetera. Time to get off the stage while sympathy still exists me thinks.
As sorry as I am for these women I can’t help thinking its money over justice they want.
Maybe People should protest at church gates about this ? They should be footing this bill ….
Applying a multiplier to the proses sum of 3.75 would not be generous but it would be getting into the right ball park.
Some of the survivers worked up to twenty years and are treated the same as ladies who worked ten years or less this seems unfair.
what about the women who have died, i have just recently found out my grandmother was in peacock lane laundry, cork all her life, she worked there for over 40 odd years, she died at the age of 81 in 1996, in the residential part.
my father did not know his mother, he was in artane from the age of 8 until his 16 birthday, before that he was in an orphanage and then fostered out. what kind of life did he have, NONE. His mother is now buried with four other magdalene laundry workers, . we cannot claim for her as there is a cut off date of 19 feb 2013.
I cant imagine what my dad and grandma went through, but any money given would help in giving my grandmother her grave and headstone somewhere my dad can finally call his family. one that he never new
Why is redress taking so long to sort it will be nearly a year soon. They seem to be keeping us
on a piece of string.
have your say