336 pages | Trade Paperback

An intimate, sharply intelligent debut about two college students and the strange, unexpected connection they forge with a married couple, now in paperback

Frances is 21 years old, cool-headed, and darkly observant. A college student and aspiring writer, she devotes herself to a life of the mindand to the beautiful and endlessly self-possessed Bobbi, her best friend and comrade-in-arms. Lovers at school, the two young women now perform spoken-word poetry together in Dublin, where a journalist named Melissa spots their potential. Drawn into Melissas orbit, Frances is reluctantly impressed by the older womans sophisticated home and tall, handsome husband. Private property, Frances believes, is a cultural eviland Nick, a bored actor who never quite lived up to his potential, looks like patriarchy made flesh. But however amusing their flirtation seems at first, it gives way to a strange intimacy neither of them expect. As Frances tries to keep her life in check, her relationships increasingly resist her control: with Nick, with her difficult and unhappy father, and finally even with Bobbi. Desperate to reconcile herself to the desires and vulnerabilities of her body, Francess intellectual certainties begin to yield to something newa painful and disorienting way of living from moment to moment.

A startlingly intimate novel written with gemlike precision and probing intelligence,Conversations with Friendsis wonderfully alive to the pleasures and dangers of youth.

NOW A HULU ORIGINAL SERIES From the New York Times bestselling author of Normal People . . . [A] cult-hit . . . [a] sharply realistic comedy of adultery and friendship.Entertainment Weekly

SALLY ROONEY NAMED TO THE TIME 100 NEXT LIST WINNER OF THE SUNDAY TIMES (UK) YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD ONE OF BUZZFEEDS BEST BOOKS OF THE DECADE ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Vogue, Slate ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Elle

Frances is a coolheaded and darkly observant young woman, vaguely pursuing a career in writing while studying in Dublin. Her best friend is the beautiful and endlessly self-possessed Bobbi. At a local poetry performance one night, they meet a well-known photographer, and as the girls are then gradually drawn into her world, Frances is reluctantly impressed by the older womans sophisticated home and handsome husband, Nick. But however amusing Frances and Nicks flirtation seems at first, it begins to give way to a strangeand then painfulintimacy.

Written with gemlike precision and marked by a sly sense of humor, Conversations with Friends is wonderfully alive to the pleasures and dangers of youth, and the messy edges of female friendship.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD

Sharp, funny, thought-provoking . . . a really great portrait of two young women as theyre figuring out how to be adults.Celeste Ng, Late Night with Seth Meyers Podcast

The dialogue is superb, as are the insights about communicating in the age of electronic devices. Rooney has a magical ability to write scenes of such verisimilitude that even when little happens theyre suspenseful.Curtis Sittenfeld, The Week

Rooney has the gift of imbuing everyday life with a sense of high stakes . . . a novel of delicious frictions.New York

A writer of rare confidence, with a lucid, exacting style . . . One wonderful aspect of Rooneys consistently wonderful novel is the fierce clarity with which she examines the self-delusion that so often festers alongside presumed self-knowledge. . . . But Rooneys natural power is as a psychological portraitist. She is acute and sophisticated about the workings of innocence; the protagonist of this novel about growing up has no idea just how much of it she has left to do.Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker

This book. This book. I read it in one day. I hear Im not alone.Sarah Jessica Parker (Instagram)