"NORMAL PEOPLE" WINS THE ROOSTER FOR ROONEY.

The 2020 Tournament of Books has been won by Sally Rooney's "Normal People". For those of you who follow the literary prizes this book will already be very familiar to you. It was longlisted for the 2019 Women's Prize, and the 2018 Booker prize. It won the Costa Award in 2018 and the British Book Award in 2019.

2020 looked like it was going to be a disappointment for "Normal People" when it was knocked out of the tournament in the opening rounds by "Fleishman is in Trouble" by Taffy Brodesser-Akner.

However the Tournament of Books has the zombie rounds. Every tournament has two books voted for by the public that can come back into the tournament as a "zombie". This is exactly what happened and "Normal People" rose from the dead to take on "Saudade" by Suneeta Peres da Costa. "Saudade" like the finalist "Optic Nerve" by Maria Gainza was a dark horse this year, with very few tournament followers predicting it would make it so far.

However, "Normal People" went on to defeat them both and be declared the 2020 winner. I must say that I am happy to see it win. Now Sally Rooney can say that, along with the Costa and British Book Award, she has won a rooster.

Here is a synopsis of "Normal People"

At school Connell and Marianne pretend not to know each other. He's popular and well-adjusted, star of the school football team, while she is lonely, proud and intensely private. But when Connell comes to pick his mother up from her job at Marianne's house, a strange and indelible connection grows between the two teenagers - one they are determined to conceal.

A year later, they're both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years at university, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. And as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other. hey are determined to conceal.

A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years in college, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. Then, as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other.