You’ve likely seen it staring out at you from your local bookstore’s front window display, taking over your social media feeds or under the arms of celebrities and bookworms alike: the cover of Sally Rooney’s novel, Intermezzo. The Irish writer’s latest book, which was published on Sept. 24 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, is undoubtedly one of the biggest new releases of the year so far.
Readers, for one, are enamored with the plot, where brothers Peter, a lawyer, and Ivan, a chess prodigy, find themselves balancing relationships with very different women in the aftermath of their father’s death. A book centered on sibling dynamics is a fresh take for Rooney, who rose to literary fame with the novels Conversations with Friends (2017), Normal People (2018) and Beautiful World, Where Are You (2021).
Another source of discussion, however, is the eye-catching cover. The stunning U.S. cover, featuring a yellow chess board design, was created …