Little Vanities

by Sarah Gilmartin

Dylan, Stevie and Ben have been inseparable since their days at Trinity, when everything seemed possible. A glance between them can still conjure their younger dancing beneath pulsing lights, the sharp taste of salt after swims in Dublin Bay.

Two decades on, life feels smaller. Dylan, once a rugby star, is stranded on the sofa, cared for by his wife Rachel. Across town, Stevie and Ben's relationship has settled into weary routine. Then, after countless auditions, Ben lands a role in Pinter's Betrayal. As rehearsals unfold, the play's shifting allegiances seep into reality, reviving old jealousies and awakening sudden longings, as each must reckon with how far they're willing to go in pursuit of desire.

Wry, sexy and deftly observed, Little Vanities is a novel about the dangerous thrill of stepping outside the roles we've been given - and the distance between the lives we imagine and the ones we live.

Genres: Fiction, Irish Literature, Ireland

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 21, 2026

About the author

SARAH GILMARTIN is a critic who reviews fiction for the Irish Times. She is co-editor of the anthology Stinging Fly Stories and has an MFA from University College Dublin. She won Best Playwright at the inaugural Short+Sweet Dublin festival. Her short stories have been published in The Dublin Review, New Irish Writing and shortlisted for the RTÉ Francis MacManus Short Story Award. Her story ‘The Wife’ won the 2020 Máirtín Crawford Award at Belfast Book Festival.

Reviews

[Ross]

really enjoyed! like a pressure cooker of a novel, the tension and pacing was done so well

[Naseerah]

That was fkn stressful.

[Lauren Olmeda Moore]

The men are the problem

[Linda Murray]

A wee bit disappointing given how brilliant her first two novels were. Dont get me wrong this is a page turner and her characters are fully rounded, there is no plot hole to eye roll at and yes, things happen. I even like rugby!
But it just felt a little predictable and one sided . The things that are going on in the men’s lives are actually more important and more serious but yet the tension and the ‘will I won’t I ‘character insight was mostly all from the girls.

[Pgchuis]

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

Dylan (played rugby for Ireland, now struggling with long Covid), Ben (struggling actor), and Stevie (physio) were at university together. Now in their late thirties Dylan is being cared for by his long-suffering wife (and former shots girl) Rachel, with whom he has a child. Ben and Stevie live together and have done for a long time, but Stevie does not want to get married.

The novel opens with Stevie and Ben coming over for the evening and it quickly becomes apparent that Rachel has never felt accepted by the group and has a particular antipathy towards Stevie. The plot then plays out over the next year or so and includes flashbacks to their university days which explain the various tensions in the friendship group.

I read this in one sitting and found it entirely engrossing. I sympathized most with poor Rachel, although I would not have chosen the ending she did. The final section was pretty sordid: after so many betrayals and recriminations and stand up rows I would have emigrated, I think.

[Ellen Ross]

I was hooked from the first chapter. Two couples going through decades of life and ups and downs made this book highly relatable. I felt connected to each character for different reasons and I was very emotionally invested. Great storytelling throughout and when I finished I was left missing the characters and wanting to read all over again. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Julie]

A light read in comparison to the themes of abuse at home in Dinner Party, and the workplace in Service (both got 4 stars). Well paced with an element of suspence as the relationships of 2 couples, longterm friends, buckle from a tangled mess of desires and disillusionment. Flawed, believable characters - I was rooting for them, except for Ben.

[Audrey D]

Little Vanities by Sarah Gilmartin

Really enjoyed this book. It follows a group of friends as they grow up, couple up and navigate all of life’s highs and lows. But running through it all is that blurry line between friendship and desire, always threatening to change everything.

[Lucy Skeet]

Loved loved loved this! Thanks so much to Pushkin for my copy

[Ceecee]

Two couples, Stevie and Ben and Dylan and Rachel. The first three are friends since meeting at Trinity College in Dublin. In those happiest of days everything seemed possible. Twenty years on, Dylan‘s once glorious rugby career is over and he’s physically struggling, in a lot of pain and being cared for by his wife Rachel. As for Ben and Stevie, their lives are now routine and a struggle, especially as Ben hasn’t landed an acting role in a while, thus relying only on Stevie’s‘s wage. Then he gets some welcome good news of a big part in Betrayal, a play by Harold Pinter. However, perhaps that’s a clanging warning sign of things to come as their lives start to unravel with the past meeting the present day.

This character driven novel is well worth sticking with after a bit of a slow start but which makes total sense as the novel progresses as things slot into place. All the characters are very well portrayed and conveyed and I find I can’t decide if I like them or not, but thoroughly enjoy the fly on the wall experience looking at their relationships. It’s very good on the ever-changing, fluctuating dynamics, between the two couples, between the partners and the women and the men. I really enjoyed a look back at the Trinity days, where the whole thing starts and which has its roots in the present day. These university days are nostalgic and atmospheric, yet writing is clearly visible on walls with deeply submerged secrets.

It really intensifies after Ben gets the role in Betrayal, as he feels it all around him and he unravels with the play mirroring real life. Some of the most colourful scenes take place around the play and its performance. The tension that builds from this point is palpable and almost claustrophobic. There’s an ever present sense of danger, of the implosion of the status quo. Perhaps it’s a stark reminder that they were only ever papering over the cracks. I thoroughly enjoy how it plays out with the author making the whole thing feel very real and authentic.

This is another very good novel from Sarah Gilmartin.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to
Pushkin Press, Pushkin ONE, for the much appreciated early copy in return for an honest review.

[Susan]

I have really enjoyed Sarah Gilmartin's previous novels, so I was delighted to receive a copy of her third from NetGalley to review.

This novel revolves around four people. Dylan and Ben are childhood friends. At university in Dublin, they meet Stevie. Later, Ben and Stevie are a couple, while Dylan is married to Rachel. The book follows them over the course of their lives and through their relationships, as their fortunes rise and fall. Stevie is a physiotherapist, Rachel is a wife and mother who is longing for a second child. Dylan was a successful rugby player whose career was upended by injury. Meanwhile, Ben has been an aspiring actor whose big break might finally be here.

Gilmartin captures her characters' feelings and emotions perfectly. The rivalry between Ben and Dylan, the barely concealed dislike between Rachel and Stevie, and the growing attraction between Dylan and Stevie. The novel progresses with growing tension until things erupt and the lives of our characters change forever. I absolutely loved this book as I have loved Sarah Gilmartin's previous books. This would be ideal for a book group with so much to discuss, and the author manages to make us sympathise with every character, which is no easy task considering their often unwise choices and behaviour. Loved it and highly recommend this one.

[Angie]

This is a beautifully written, character-driven drama that dives right into the messy realities of long-term friendship. The story follows four people whose lives have been tangled together since their university days in Dublin: childhood friends Dylan and Ben, Stevie (who becomes Ben’s partner), and Rachel, who is married to Dylan. As the years roll by, we watch their fortunes rise and fall—from Dylan’s rugby career being cut short by injury and Ben’s sudden shot at acting stardom, to Rachel’s deep longing for a second child.

The real magic of this book lies in how perfectly the author captures the quiet, unspoken friction between the characters. You can practically feel the competitive edge between the two men, the chilly undercurrents between Rachel and Stevie, and the complicated spark that begins to grow between Dylan and Stevie. The story builds with a wonderful, simmering tension until it finally boils over, changing all of their lives forever.

What I appreciated most was how human everyone felt. Even when they make incredibly messy, unwise choices, the writing is so compassionate that you can't help but sympathise with each of them. It is a thoroughly absorbing read that would make a good choice for a book club, as there is a lot to unpack and chat about.

My thanks to Net Galley for providing me with a ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Pete]

Really readable, often funny. We get four different perspectives, in third person, and constantly move between timelines, which means the reader always has more context than any of the characters - what they're avoiding, the stories they're telling themselves and everyone else, whose pain is justified and who's being petty.

So the stakes are clear, even if the consequences seem inevitable, and despite the arms-length narrative distance. Keeps it tense. Because of that almost-omniscience, though, I was never totally immersed in the blind, consuming interiority that swaddles the characters. Felt oddly reported, for so much focus on the body. And that distance kept me from really accessing the depths of their grievances, everyone's pain. But appropriate! The selfish and boring torture of early middle age. Pretending the malaise justifies recklessness, and that consequences can be avoided and ignored, because it would feel so good to just feel good again. You won't though. No one does.

(thanks to the publisher/netgalley for the e-arc)

[Grace]

I’ve now read all three of Sarah Gilmartin’s novels and I’ve genuinely loved every one. She’s so good at getting you inside her characters’ heads in a way that makes you understand them—even when you don’t agree with them at all. In Little Vanities, I found myself empathising with characters I normally wouldn’t, which is always a sign of great writing for me.

This book really feels like it’s about the quiet crisis of middle age, questioning your self-worth and how you ended up where you are. It’s thoughtful without being too heavy, and it's very, very human.

I also always love her Dublin references - makes me feel right at home! And I found that this book was such a page-turner. I flew through it!

I would highly recommend this, as well as any of Gilmartin’s novels.

Thanks Puskin Press for sending me and advanced proof copy of Little Vanities :)

[Always Reading Between The Wines]

Little Vanities by Sarah Gilmartin
⭐️⭐️⭐️ . 5

A character driven book following the trio of Ben, Dylan and Stevie through their lives. At Trinity College, the trio appear to have everything ahead of them, but two decades later, Dylan's rugby career is over and Stevie and Ben have settled into a life of mundane routine. That is, until Ben, a struggling actor, suddenly lands the role of a lifetime and their lives begin to unravel. Gilmartin brings together the characters past and present lives really seamlessly and builds the story so well. The tension is palpable within the story as it progresses and Ben's play begins to unravel and mirror the events happening around him in real life. It creates a claustrophobic atmosphere that keeps the reader turning the page.

[Flighty_Z]

At the beginning it was not nearly as addictive as Service, but the strong prose and character driven plot remained. Then as everything unfolds and the tensions ramped up, I was glued to the pages. There's a nuance to the storytelling where nothing is dramatic for the sake of it, and everything feels real and true to the characters. Loved the Dublin setting also.

[Paris Campbell]

huge fan of sarah gilmartin and read her other two books in a matter of days aswell- such a page turner! i love how she allows you into the not always perfect minds of the characters and allows you to agree or disagree with their actions! i always love a local/irish read and appreciated the dublin and leinster references as a rugby fan

such a fast paced book and the tension was building consistently throughout and i was addicted! would defo recommend to a friend this pulled me right out of a reading slump

[Anya Rose]

Four old college friends, now living very different lives. Dylan, a former professional rugby player, is struggling with his health while raising a daughter with his wife, Rachel. Ben is finally getting his big break as an actor in his 40s, while his partner, Stevie, works as a physio. Years of friendship, relationships and shared history tie them together, but as their lives become intertwined again, things quickly get complicated.

[alexandra]

I’m a big Sarah Gilmartin fan — the way she writes, her character building — it’s up there with the best. It’s only a matter of time before the rest of the world discovers this.

[bailey diamond]

eh

[Lindamac Harris]

Enjoyed this . Characters really well written . Good storyline . You always knew things were going to come to a head and WOW they really did

[Joyce]

Enjoyed the character development, the Dublin settings, the failings and the friendships.

[ruthie]

ugh i love everything this woman writes. this felt like a tv series. sososososo good

[Lucy O]

These men are infuriating

[Abby]

a disappointment after Service.

[Eva]

2.5 disappointing for me after Service was one of my tops of 2025 :-/