Sally Rooney’s debut novel, Conversations with Friends, is one of the most compelling works of fiction I have ever read. Her new novel, Normal People, is no less so.

Both of these novels have been primarily characterised as modern love stories—two women figuring out who they are through the maze of their first significant romantic relationships. And, of course, this is true—in Conversations with Friends, the main plot-driver is our protagonist’s tortured relationship with a married man. In Normal People, it is the protagonist’s largely hidden, on-again-off-again romance with her unlikely partner Connell.