As throngs of bright-eyed freshers stream through College’s gates, Hodges Figgis is set to launch one of the sincerest and most powerful coming-of-age stories of our generation. This Wednesday, September 12th at 6pm, the bookstore will host the launch of Sally Rooney’s much-anticipated second novel, Normal People. Set in Trinity and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, already the novel has caused something of a frenzy in the literary world.
Hardly a year has passed since the Dublin-based author burst onto the scene with her quietly extraordinary debut novel, Conversations with Friends. It would seem an almost impossible success to follow on from, but somehow, incredibly, Rooney has done it again. Hailed by Anne Enright as “superb”, Normal People chronicles the lives of Marianne and Connell, two vastly different teenagers, as they navigate the bizarre and challenging new world of university. On the one hand, the novel is decidedly political, unafraid of tackling prickly issues such as class and social mores, while on the other it is a universal story of young love.
“Even after many years have passed she will still think: Yes, that was it, the beginning of my life”, the narrator remarks of Marianne. Many of us will look back and think this exact thought. Hitting the shelves this month, Normal People is concerned with what, for many, can feel like “the beginning”: starting college. It is a story rooted in “firsts” – first lectures, first digs, first dates.
This is the kind of novel you may open out of curiosity but, before you realise it, find yourself only 30 pages in and already deeply invested in its characters. The pages overflow with honesty and fragility, and a love that feels entirely, undeniably real. You will be caught off guard by the subtlety and power of perception of what is set to be one of the biggest publications of the year.
In Colin Barrett’s words, “Sally Rooney is a writer going all the way to the top”. It won’t be long before you might have to pay into an event like this, Rooney’s star is rising so fast. Act now and catch a glimpse of the magic before it is too late.
