In recent years, Irish author Sally Rooney, 33, has been considered a wunderkind of the literary world, thanks to the breakout success of 2017’s Conversations with Friends, 2018’s Normal People and 2021’s Beautiful World, Where Are You.

Sally Rooney ditches the style that made her ‘voice of a generation’ - 5/5 With her fourth novel, Rooney has discovered her full literary prowess – the reward is transcendent

The Irish writer’s keenly intelligent new novel swaps her formidable female leads for two brothers summoned together by grief

Through alternating narratives of two brothers, the novel shows what happens when we do not know what to do with our grief.

"Normal People" and "Conversations with Friends" writer Sally Rooney returns with another novel set in Ireland. "Intermezzo" looks at two brothers and the three women they (think they) love.

Sally Rooney’s new novel is entitled Intermezzo — the old chess term for an unexpected move. The board game is a significant element in the plot — Ivan, one of the main protagonists, is a chess master.

Intermezzo is not a flawless novel. Naomi is not as well fleshed out as the other characters; there a slightly jarring habit of front-loading sentences with adverbs (“mindlessly she nods her head”; “distractedly she pushes her hair back”); and at times Peter’s sections are so staccato that they require intense focus just to be able to follow them.

In Sally Rooney’s new novel, two grieving brothers find solace in questionable romantic pursuits. Peter and Ivan Koubek, aged 32 and 22 respectively, have recently lost their father.

The propulsive energy of Sally Rooney’s latest novel is derived not from its plot, but from the meticulous self-questioning of the characters, writes Stuart Kelly