Normal People

by Sally Rooney

  You should go, she says. I’ll always be here. You know that.

  Acknowledgements

  Thanks: firstly to John Patrick McHugh, who was with this novel long before I had finished writing it, and whose conversation and guidance contributed so substantially to its development; to Thomas Morris for his thoughtful, detailed feedback on the manuscript; to David Hartery and Tim MacGabhann for reading early drafts of the novel’s opening chapters and offering wise advice; to Ken Armstrong, Iarla Mongey and all the members of the Castlebar writers’ group for their early support of my writing; to Tracy Bohan for doing pretty much everything other than actually writing the book; to Mitzi Angel, who has made this a better novel and me a better writer; to John’s family; to my own family, and particularly to my parents; to Kate Oliver and Aoife Comey, as ever, for their friendship; and to John, for everything.

  About the Author

  Sally Rooney was born in 1991 and lives in Dublin. Her work has appeared in the New Yorker, Granta, The White Review, The Dublin Review and The Stinging Fly. Her debut novel, Conversations with Friends, was a Sunday Times, Observer and Telegraph Book of the Year and was shortlisted fpr the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Rathbones Folio Prize. Rooney is the winner of the Sunday Times/PFD Young Writer of the Year Award.

  By the Same Author

  CONVERSATIONS WITH FRIENDS

  Copyright

  First published in the UK in 2018

  by Faber & Faber Ltd

  Bloomsbury House

  74–77 Great Russell Street

  London WC1B 3DA

  This ebook edition first published in 2018

  All rights reserved

  © Sally Rooney, 2018

  Cover design by Faber

  Design: gray318

  Illustration © Henn Kim

  The right of Sally Rooney to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly

  ISBN 978–0–571–33466–7