Beautiful World, Where Are You

The Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller from Sally Rooney, a novel about friendship, desire, and the search for meaning in a changing world.

Alice, a novelist, meets Felix, who works in a warehouse, and asks him if he’d like to travel to Rome with her. In Dublin, her best friend Eileen is getting over a break-up and slips back into flirting with Simon, a man she has known since childhood.

As Alice, Felix, Eileen, and Simon move through their late twenties, they navigate the complexities of contemporary life—friendships, sexual politics, and the anxieties of the modern age. Through a series of emails and shared experiences, the characters exchange thoughts on art, faith, the collapse of civilizations, and the challenge of finding beauty and connection in an increasingly uncertain world. Written with Rooney’s signature emotional intimacy and sharp intellectual wit, this novel is a profound reflection on what it means to grow up and look for a "beautiful world."