Sally Rooney

Intermezzo follows two brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek, as they navigate grief, relationships, and identity after the death of their father. Peter, a successful lawyer in Dublin, struggles with anxiety, insomnia, and complicated romantic entanglements, while Ivan, a socially awkward but gifted chess player, forms an unexpected connection with an older woman that changes his life.

As the brothers deal with loss in very different ways, their lives begin to intersect through emotional tension, personal growth, and shifting relationships. The novel explores themes of grief, masculinity, love, loneliness, family bonds, and the search for meaning in modern life.