Little Vanities

FOR FANS OF SALLY ROONEY: A radiant story of love, desire, and fidelity, tracing the intertwined lives of 2 couples from college to midlife.

“Beautifully written, compelling readable, fizzing with insight and truthfulness, this is a wonderful novel.”  —Joseph O'Connor, author of Star of the Sea

Dylan, Stevie and Ben have been inseparable since their days at Trinity College Dublin, when everything seemed possible. A glance between them can still conjure their younger selves: dancing beneath pulsing lights, breathless with ambition, the sharp taste of salt after swims in Dublin Bay, certain that life would bend to their will.

Two decades on, life feels smaller, boxed in by compromise. Dylan, once a celebrated rugby star with fans chanting his name, is now stranded on the sofa, his injury placing a strain on his marriage to Rachel, who longs for another baby. Across town, Stevie and Ben’s relationship has settled into a weary routine of careful silences and unresolved resentments.

Then, after countless auditions and years of disappointment, Ben lands a role in Pinter’s Betrayal. As rehearsals unfold, the play’s shifting loyalties and emotional undercurrents begin to seep into real life, reviving old jealousies and stirring sudden longings. Faced with an uncertain future, each of them must decide how much they are willing to risk in pursuit of happiness.

Wry, sexy and sharply observed, Little Vanities explores the pull of stepping outside the roles we’ve been given and the uneasy gap between the lives we imagined and the ones we find ourselves living.