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Intermezzo

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What to expect

THE GLOBAL NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER

'A tender, funny page-turner.' OBSERVER
'Come for the romance, stay for the meaning of life.' IRISH TIMES
'A breathtakingly intimate look at love and desire in its many different forms.' RED

Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.

Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties - successful, competent and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father's death, he's 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 for whom life is one long joke.

Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.

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.

Readers love Intermezzo:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'An intimate and emotional read . I put the book down feeling that I am richer for having read it.'

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'A beautifully written book with characters that capture the heart of the reader.'

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'I'm envious of anyone yet to read this, you're in for a treat.'

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'The characters are brilliant; complex, heartful, raw and impactful.'

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Shows dazzling skill but also heart-wrenching compassion and humanity.'

Sally Rooney's book Intermezzo was a bestseller w/c 30/09/2024

User Reviews

Book 4.9
Narration 5.0
5.0
5.0
I devoured this book.

This is my first Sally Rooney and I adore her way of writing. Thoughtful, poetic, beautiful.

I highly recommend Intermezzo.

I'm off to listen to her other books!
Suttmo 11/09/2025
5.0
5.0
madeleine 08/08/2025
4.0
5.0
A really thoughtful and excellent book - in a way about queerness in straight relationships and surviving the guilt of trying to be good in less usual situations
Fronk_Lazer 09/06/2025
5.0
5.0
slowhand52 04/02/2025
5.0
5.0
amanda k 30/01/2025
5.0
5.0
cushla_leabhar 31/12/2024
5.0
5.0
Harri 12/10/2024
5.0
5.0
heatherwilde 12/10/2024
5.0
5.0
One of those books that you want to listen to again for the very first time, just to experience it again. A painful heart-squeezing joy of a book. 💜
kellifb 06/10/2024
5.0
5.0
Sally Rooney at her best. A brilliantly crafted story, well read.
PBee 02/10/2024

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