An unnamed woman leaves New York City, where her father recently died, and moves to The Hague, Netherlands to work as an interpreter at the International Criminal Court.

The woman is assigned to interpret for the former president of a West African country on trial for war crimes.

Kitamura attended the International Criminal Court trial of Laurent Gbagbo, a fictionalized account of which appears in Intimacies.

[4][5] Intimacies featured on a list of book recommendations by Barack Obama for the summer of 2021.

[6] Dwight Garner described the book as "a taut, moody novel that moves purposefully between worlds" in his review for The New York Times.