Intermezzo
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.
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What you might want to know about Intermezzo
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
After their father's death, two Irish brothers, a young chess prodigy and an older barrister, stumble through new and complicated relationships. Rooney watches their grief, their love lives, and their silences.
Yes. Intermezzo is Sally Rooney's fourth novel, published in 2024 after Conversations with Friends, Normal People, and Beautiful World, Where Are You. It centers on two brothers grieving their father's death.
No. Intermezzo is independent of Rooney's earlier novels. Each of her books stands alone, though they share her interest in young Irish characters, dialogue, and class.
Intermezzo was written by Sally Rooney, published in 2024 by Faber & Faber, Limited.
Intermezzo is 454 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Intermezzo takes most readers 7 to 10 hours to finish.
Intermezzo is a standalone novel by Sally Rooney, not part of a series.
Intermezzo is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.