Rooney excels at creating an authentic experience of striving within a frenetic, ever changing world. With her sociopolitical and emotional intelligence, Rooney raises the question: is there ethical heterosexuality under late capitalism and imminent climate collapse?

But novelists as talented as Ms Rooney aspire to do something new. They must negotiate the twin dangers of staleness and self-indulgent experiment. “Intermezzo” is the story of Ivan and Peter Koubek.

Anyone who has ever read Sally Rooney will know to expect some kind of meditation on modern relationships – all their intimacy, desire, connection, miscommunication – whenever they pick up one of her novels.

The author spoke with 'The Guardian' ahead of the publication of her highly-anticipated novel 'Intermezzo' Richard Saker/Shutterstock Sally Rooney in 2017 In recent years, Irish author Sally Rooney, 33,