sally rooney 2 books collection set (conversations with friends & normal people)  <p><strong>normal people (paperback)</strong><br>connell and marianne grow up in the same small town in the west of ireland, but the similarities end there. in school, connell is popular and well-liked, while marianne is a loner. but when the two strike up a conversation - awkward but electrifying - something life-changing begins. normal people is a story of mutual fascination, friendship and love. it takes us from that first conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find they can't.<br><br><strong>conversations with friends (paperback)</strong><br>frances is twenty-one years old, cool-headed and observant. a student in dublin and an aspiring writer, at night she performs spoken word with her best friend bobbi, who used to be her girlfriend. when they are interviewed and then befriended by melissa, a well-known journalist who is married to nick, an actor, they enter a world of beautiful houses, raucous dinner parties and holidays in provence, beginning a complex ménage-à-quatre. but when frances and nick get unexpectedly closer, the sharply witty and emotion-averse frances is forced to honestly confront her own vulnerabilities for the first time.</p>