At home, Connell’s mother is Marianne’s maid. At school, Connell is a popular athlete while Marianne is a pariah.

They fall for each other anyway, loving and hurting each other in equal measure. Everything changes in college, where Marianne makes friends easily and Connell can’t quite fit in. Yet the intimacy born from revealing everything to one another—all their most hopeful and shameful parts—binds them.

Sally Rooney elevates a teenage romance into a story of power and psychological trauma, never losing sight of their scarred but sweet love, in this engaging novel.