Sally Rooney to release third novel Beautiful World, Where Are You in September

New book is follow up to Normal People and Conversations with Friends

Sally Rooney’s new novel will be released later this year.

The Normal People author’s third book, titled Beautiful World, Where Are You, will be released on 7 September 2021, it was announced on Tuesday (12 January).

It will be published by Faber & Faber and has previously been described as an examination of “aesthetics and political crisis”.

As reported by The New York Times, the novel will follow four young people living in Ireland as they navigate the pressures of work and relationships against the backdrop of political turmoil and fears about money and their futures.

“The title itself speaks to some of the book’s themes, it’s an unanswered question,” publisher Mitzi Angel told the newspaper.

“The characters are contemplating a world in which the future is very uncertain for them — what’s the world of work going to look like, what’s going to happen to the planet, what are the politics we are all living through. I think the stakes are higher.”

Beautiful World, Where Are You follows on from Rooney’s hugely successful novels, 2017’s Conversations with Friends and 2018’s Normal People.

The latter book was adapted for BBC Three last year, with Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal playing on-off couple Marianne and Connell to critical acclaim.

A mini-series based on Conversations with Friends is also in the works from the same production team.