Normal People

In the UK there’s a lot of buzz around Sally Rooney and it’s easy to see why. Her writing is elegant and tender, her characters flawed and recognisable and her plotting subtle and beautifully nuanced. Normal People follows the tentative growing romance between Marianne and Connell. We see them first as confused teenagers in small-town rural Ireland, unable to properly connect but aware they have something special between them. Marianne lives in the big white house and Connell is the son of her family’s cleaner. Both are smart in different ways and win places at the same prestigious university – Trinity College Dublin. From this moment on we are willing them to get together and the agonising path of their relationship is utterly absorbing. The dialogue is so spot on and the layering of the story filled with suspense.