Intermezzo

Intermezzo is the story of two unequal brothers. Peter, in his early thirties, is a charismatic, disillusioned human rights lawyer; Ivan, ten years younger, is a serious and introverted chess player. When Ivan was small and Peter a teenager, they were close, but later they became increasingly estranged. Now they have lost their beloved father, reopening old wounds.

Then Ivan meets Margaret, whose marriage has just fallen apart. The affection between them is genuine, but their age difference threatens to shatter their love. Meanwhile, Peter is losing his footing. He is with Naomi, a young student, but he cannot let go of his former life with Sylvia, his first love. Uprooted, hurt, and full of regret, life feels bland and barely bearable to him. Their guilt, their search for meaning and closeness drives both Ivan and Peter towards the women in their lives. Yet each of them must find a way to master an overwhelming task: to truly grieve. And to truly love.

With her new novel, Sally Rooney, one of the defining authors of her generation, sheds all labels and proves that she has a unique ability to portray truly human characters. Human desire, human despair, human recognition, the mystery of human connection: Intermezzo is both stirring and comforting, a story of brothers and lovers, told with the tension of a long-held breath that ultimately opens into a resolution of extraordinary emotional power.