Normal People

Rooney's debut — same Dublin world, same formal restraint, more cerebral and less emotionally direct. A good entry point to Rooney's technique.

Two people who love each other and cannot get there before it's too late — different reasons, same devastating structure.

A masterclass in what is not said. Stevens and Miss Kenton, like Connell and Marianne, speak about everything except the thing that matters.

Class and love in the British context — a single misreading with lifelong consequences. Structurally similar interest in what is mis-communicated.

The long shadow of formative failures — both novels track what we can't undo when we were young and cowardly.

Two people right for each other who keep failing to say so — Rooney is the Austen of the smartphone generation, and she's acknowledged the debt.