Relax, Rooney fans: New novel this fall

Two years ago, Sally Rooney seemed poised to take a victory lap. At 27, she had published two bestselling, acclaimed novels, “Conversations

With Friends” and “Normal People,” which was nominated for the Man Booker Prize. Critics anointed her as “the first great millennial novelist.”

Rooney wasn’t so sure about the hype or her long-term prospects as a novelist.

“I have no idea if I’ll write another book,” she told the Irish Independent in 2018. “Maybe I am one of those people who writes two novels in their 20s, then never writes anything else again.”

Thankfully for her devoted readers, Rooney gave it another try. In September, Farrar, Straus and Giroux will release her new novel, “Beautiful World, Where Are You,” in which four young characters in Ireland navigate the pressures of work and relationships against the backdrop of political turmoil and economic uncertainty.

The new novel is likely to be one of this year’s most anticipated books. Rooney’s first two novels have sold more than 1 million copies in the United States alone.

Rooney became a literary sensation with the release of her 2017 debut novel, “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 grappling with the realities of adulthood, the novel drew accolades 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 meet as teens from different socioeconomic backgrounds and whose social fortunes diverge further when they end up at Trinity. It cemented Rooney’s reputation as a literary talent and was adapted into a TV series.

“She’s an original writer who, you sense, is just getting started,” Dwight Garner wrote in The New York Times.

Rooney