Sally Rooney’s new book is out today and people have queued since before 8am to get a copy

Sally Rooney’s new novel, Beautiful World, Where Are You, is out today and people have been queueing up at dawn to bag a copy.

The release of Rooney’s third novel has seen book shops open early, attracting tote-bag toting crowds bidding to pick up a hardback copy.

Have these people taken annual leave? Faked a doctor’s appointment?

Bookbar in Finsbury Park, London, opened at 8am, with people lining up eager to get their hands on a copy.

One book shop even threw a Sally Rooney breakfast to mark the event, with staff wearing branded t-shirts. Following up on Normal People and Conversations with Friends, Beautiful World, Where Are You features disaffected young Irish people cynical about capitalism and slightly unlucky in love.

There was queueing in Dulwich. People haven’t been this excited for a book to drop since the last Harry Potter.

There was yet another breakfast party in Penarth.

The question is: would any of the characters in Rooney’s books – who are all deeply into books and reading but hate overt displays of capitalist consumption – be excited by this?

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• These 11 books will fill the Normal People shaped hole in your life

• Sally Rooney revealed what happened to Marianne and Connell after Normal People

• Everything we know about Sally Rooney’s Conversations With Friends TV adaption