Irish author Sally Rooney’s first two novels, Ordinary People and Conversations with Friends, both hinge in part on significant holidays taken by their protagonists to continental Europe. Away from Ireland and into the warm sunshine of Italy and the south of France, respectively, our pale, brooding heroes act a little differently, perhaps take some risks, argue, and love each other. This is the potential effect of travel. Rooney has left his vacation plans for now with both his third novels, Beautiful World and Where Are You? And her wonderful latest work “Intermezzo”. At Intermezzo, we travel a lot, but only domestically with a purpose. Dublin-based brothers Peter and Ivan Koubek have recently lost their father. The house where the latter, an arrested professional chess player, lived together is vacant in the suburbs, and his semi-estranged mother lives elsewhere with her new family. Ivan’s chess takes him to tournaments in small cities and towns across Ireland. The first chapter from his perspective actually begins with such an event. In this new location, he meets an older woman and falls in love. She is also dealing with a similar loss and is able to step away from her mundane life and grow alongside this new connection. The novel is both ambitious and sad, not only in its page count of 452 pages (Rooney’s longest ever!), but also in its harsh look at the incurability of grief and the feasibility of traditional romance. be. —Charlie Hobbs, Deputy Editor
