Starry authors often find themselves torn between conflicting demands. Readers generally want them to write books similar to those they adored. Publishers are inclined to agree. But novelists as talented as Ms Rooney aspire to do something new. They must negotiate the twin dangers of staleness and self-indulgent experiment.

In recent years, Irish author Sally Rooney, 33, has been considered a wunderkind of the literary world, thanks to the breakout success of 2017’s Conversations with Friends, 2018’s Normal People and 2021’s Beautiful World, Where Are You.

With 'Intermezzo' comes the latest wave of envy and desire to replicate the star author’s sales. But she stands alone