Ιντερμέτζο

Apart from being brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have very little in common.

Peter is a lawyer in Dublin, in his thirties—successful, capable, and seemingly invulnerable. Yet after their father’s death, he finds himself relying on sleeping pills and struggling to navigate his relationships with two very different women: Sylvia, his first and enduring love, and Naomi, a student who treats life as one big joke.

Ivan, by contrast, is a twenty-two-year-old professional chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward and solitary, the opposite of his charming and popular older brother. In the first weeks of mourning, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman carrying a troubled past of her own, and the two form an immediate and intense connection.

As the brothers grapple with grief, love, and the shifting realities of their lives, their relationships—with others and with each other—are tested in unexpected ways. This is a deeply moving story about family, loss, intimacy, and the complicated bonds that connect us even when we seem worlds apart.

Selected by Booktique for Lipshop as part of a collaboration that brings together literature, design, and life’s simple pleasures. A distinctive title from a thoughtfully curated collection created for those who love discovering stories with character and depth.