A NEW NOVEL by bestselling Irish author Sally Rooney will be published in September.

Intermezzo, the author’s fourth novel, has been described by publisher Faber as “an exquisitely moving story about grief, love and family”. 

It follows the story of two brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek, who appear to have little in common. Peter is a successful Dublin lawyer in his thirties, while Ivan is a 22-year-old, socially awkward competitive chess player. 

When their father dies, both their lives change. Peter begins medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women – his enduring first love Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student. 

Meanwhile, Ivan becomes involved with Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.

The opening lines from Intermezzo, the new novel from Sally Rooney. Coming September 2024. pic.twitter.com/GpGBZxWlXQ

— Faber Books (@FaberBooks) February 29, 2024

“For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude – a period of desire, despair and possibility- a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking,” the synopsis reads. 

Faber publisher Alex Bowler said: “Intermezzo is a story of brothers and lovers, of familial and romantic intimacies, of relationships that don’t quite fit the conventional structures.

“After three miraculous books, Sally Rooney’s millions of readers will recognise the beauty and insight, the pain and hope that radiates from this new novel. But it marks an exquisite advance, too, in the work of a writer who seems so attuned to our lives, our hearts and our times,” he said. 

Rooney’s previous novels, Conversations With Friends, Normal People and Beautiful World, Where Are You, were all international bestsellers. 

Conversations With Friends and Normal People were also adapted into BBC television series. 

Rooney’s work has been translated into over forty languages. In 2022, TIME magazine named her among the 100 most influential people in global culture. She lives and works in Co Mayo.

Intermezzo will be published by Faber on 24 September 2024.