Summary of Normal People
Marianne and Connell are two teenagers from contrasting social backgrounds who attend the same secondary school in the small town of Carricklea in County Sligo, Ireland. They become friends and lovers but keep their relationship secret from their friends and families. Later, when they both attend Trinity College in Dublin, they rekindle their friendship and end up having an on-off-on love affair. Â
Reasons to read Normal People
“Normal People” has a simple yet clever plot and succeeds in portraying the romantic relationship between two young millennials who are in love but unable to express it. The novel explores themes such as the insecurities and embarrassments of growing up and the search for one’s identity, particularly sexually. Set in the early 2010s, when Ireland was recovering from the economic crash, “Normal People” captures the Zeitgeist of the period. It became an international bestseller and was adapted into a TV-series of the same title. Sally Rooney is a prominent contemporary Irish writer, who is also known for her novels “Conversations with Friends”, “Beautiful World, Where Are You”, and “Intermezzo”. “Normal People” won the 2018 Costa Novel Award and the 2018 Irish Novel of the Year award.
Setting: Dublin & County Sligo (Ireland)
Book set in Ireland: Dublin and the fictional town of Carricklea in County Sligo
Original title: Normal People
Year of publication: 2018
Nr of pages: 304
