With 'Intermezzo' comes the latest wave of envy and desire to replicate the star author’s sales. But she stands alone

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.

Starry authors often find themselves torn between conflicting demands. Readers generally want them to write books similar to those they adored. Publishers are inclined to agree. But novelists as talented as Ms Rooney aspire to do something new. They must negotiate the twin dangers of staleness and self-indulgent experiment.

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

As influencers and celebrities vie for advance copies, buzzy books like ‘Intermezzo’ are going viral long before publication. But what does it mean when a book becomes a status symbol?