Just over two years ago, novelist Sally Rooney looked set to take a well-deserved victory lap. At 27, she published two best-selling and acclaimed books, “Conversations With Friends” and “Normal People”, which was nominated for the Man Booker Award. Critics considered her “a writer of rare confidence” and “the first great millennial novelist”.
Rooney was not so sure about the hype – or his long-term prospects as a novelist. “I have no idea if I’m going to write another book,” she told the Irish Independent in 2018. “Maybe I’m one of those people who writes two novels in their twenties and never writes anything else.”
Fortunately for his many dedicated readers, Rooney gave him another chance. In September, Farrar, Straus and Giroux will release their new novel, “Beautiful World, Where Are You”, which follows four young characters in Ireland as they navigate the pressures of work and relationships in a setting of political turmoil and fears about their economy future.
“The title itself talks about some of the themes of the book, it is an unanswered question,” said Mitzi Angel, FSG editor. “The characters are contemplating a world in which the future is very uncertain for them – what the world of work will be like, what will happen to the planet, what is the policy we all live in. I think the stakes are higher. “
The new novel will likely be one of the most anticipated books this year. Rooney’s first two novels sold more than a million copies in the United States alone.
Angel acquired US rights to the new Wylie Agency novel as part of a two-book contract. FSG declined to provide details about the second book.
Rooney was previously published in the United States by Hogarth, a label from Penguin Random House. By moving to FSG, a division of Macmillan, Rooney is meeting with Angel, who, as editor of Faber & Faber from 2015 to 2018, published Rooney’s first two novels in Britain. Angel acquired Rooney’s books for Faber & Faber after winning at auction seven.
“Sally and I have a story, and of course I secretly hoped that one day I could publish it again,” said Angel.
Rooney became a literary sensation with the release of her debut novel in 2017, “Conversations With Friends”, which she wrote while studying for a master’s degree in American literature at Trinity College in Dublin.
Narrated by a Trinity student named Frances, who is struggling with the realities of adulthood, the novel has received praise from prominent writers like Zadie Smith, Curtis Sittenfeld and Celeste Ng.
Rooney followed with “Normal People”, a novel about the tortured friendship and romance between Marianne and Connell, who met when teenagers from different socioeconomic backgrounds and whose social fortunes diverge even more when they also end up at Trinity. The novel cemented Rooney’s reputation as a literary talent and was adapted for a television series. “She is an original writer who, you see, is just getting started,” wrote Dwight Garner in The New York Times.
“Beautiful World, Where Are You” also examines romantic relationships between young adults – but the characters are older, and the problems that occupy them are more global and ingrained. Located mainly in Dublin and a nearby city, he focuses on four characters – a novelist named Alice, his best friend Eileen and their respective love interests, Felix and Simon. In conversations and email exchanges, friends dissect their love lives and fears about the future of the planet.
“His books are always political, because they are about how people need to find out how to live together, how we should behave,” said Angel. “These questions are present in the book, and she asks them without seriousness, but with great sincerity.”