20 Books To Read If You Love Sally Rooney

Irish author Megan Nolan’s electric debut probes the gray area between affection and obsession. The young, unnamed narrator relishes her romance with a charismatic writer, but when he abruptly calls it off, she finds herself suddenly unmoored — and willing to do anything to get him back.

A brief novel that’s sure to stay with you, Binary Star centers on a young professor whose life revolves around her long-distance romance with her boyfriend — a relationship complicated by the fact that he has alcohol-use disorder and she lives with an eating disorder.

Eliza Clark’s debut novel follows Irina, an ex-bartender whose life is a blur of sex and substance use. When she’s offered a gallery exhibition, she seizes the chance to turn her passion for pornographic photography into a career.

Dissatisfied with her Silicon Valley-based writing job and longing for new vistas, Days of Distraction’s narrator follows her boyfriend, J, to the opposite coast when he’s accepted to grad school. But what begins as a means to leave California and secure her relationship with J turns into a journey of self-discovery.

Gilda was just looking for free therapy when she visited a nearby Catholic church, but after the priest mistook her for a job applicant, she found herself unexpectedly employed. But when an email from one of her late predecessor’s friends lands in her inbox, Gilda finds herself masquerading as the former receptionist.

The unnamed protagonist of Pik-Shuen Fung’s Ghost Forest ruminates on family, grief, and distance in the wake of her father’s passing. He stayed behind in Hong Kong to work, when she, her mother, and her grandmother immigrated to Canada in the 1990s. Now he’s gone, and she must lean on her family for support.

A sensation upon its 2016 publication in South Korea, Cho Nam-joo’s novel is a must-read for any Rooney fan. Focusing in on one woman’s life, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 delivers a captivating exploration of mental illness.

In Raven Leilani’s Luster, a messy 20-something living in Brooklyn gets herself hopelessly entangled in one family’s relationships. After she strikes up a romance with Eric, a man in an open marriage, Edie is drawn into the lives of his wife and child, at the wife’s request... but is she only there because she and her lover’s daughter are both Black?

From Icelandic author Þóra Hjörleifsdóttir comes Magma: the gripping story of one woman’s experiences in an increasingly abusive relationship.

From the author of The Pisces and Superdoom comes this erotic comedy about a non-practicing Jewish woman living with an eating disorder. When her therapist suggests she break off contact with her mother for a brief period, she finds herself falling into a strangely compulsive relationship with her froyo-slinging Orthodox Jewish peer.

Ottessa Moshfegh might just be the queen of messy female characters, which means that any and all of her books are perfect reads for Rooney fans. In My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Moshfegh focuses on an heiress and Ivy League grad who decides to withdraw from the world after a series of losses and toxic relationships.

If you’re looking for a book as heartbreaking as Normal People, look no further than Caleb Azumah Nelson’s Open Water. In this lauded 2021 release, a pair of Black British creatives see their relationship strained by pressures of toxic masculinity and institutional racism.

Mary Adkins’ Palm Beach centers on a 30-something married couple who pull up stakes and relocate with their newborn son to South Florida, where they become increasingly, uncomfortably close to a billionaire VC and his wife.

A longstanding vacation tradition is soured by infidelity in Miranda Cowley Heller’s The Paper Palace. While on a summer getaway with their families, Elle and Jonas cheat on their spouses with one another, leading 50-year-old Elle to question what she really wants out of life.

Ilaria Bernardini’s critically acclaimed 2020 release centers on Valeria, a famous writer who is torn between her wish to keep her longtime affair with a married business mogul under wraps, and her desire to be by his side in the wake of his coma-inducing stroke.

Blending the story of Narcissus with shades of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, A. Natasha Joukovsky spins a riveting tale about two well-to-do couples whose lives and relationships are enmeshed — both online and in real life — in The Portrait of a Mirror.

A pair of ex-lovers re-stage their brief teenage love affair in Tia Williams’ tender romance. Erotic novelist Eva and lit-fic author Shane had something, once — something their friends know nothing about. Now, as they find themselves caught up in another one-week fling, Eva is determined to get some answers from Shane about what transpired between them 15 years

When a security guard accuses a 25-year-old Black babysitter of kidnapping her 2-year-old white charge, the toddler’s mother goes on the attack, determined to get justice for her employee. But Emira isn’t sure she wants — or needs — Alix’s help, and the two women will soon learn more than they ever imagined about each other.

In this strikingly observant take on A Room of One’s Own, Jo Hamya explores millennial women’s living conditions, both real and ideal, as she follows her young protagonist through three very different living arrangements.

Rooney fans shouldn’t sleep on Miranda Popkey’s Topics of Conversation, which drew comparisons to Normal People upon its release in 2020. Comprised of conversations between different groups of women, this novel-in-stories exposes the raw truths of our contemporary lives.