What's the verdict on Sally Rooney's new novel Intermezzo?

Many people have been awaiting the release of Intermezzo, the latest book by Irish writer Sally Rooney, which explores love, grief, growing up, playing chess, understanding and misunderstanding family...Kate and Cassie begin the show with this one, with additional input from millennial author Madeleine Gray. Also, under the sea with Richard Powers in his new novel Playground; and searching the American South with Gayl Jones in The Unicorn Woman, with guidance from historian Ethan Blue.BOOKSSally Rooney, Intermezzo, FaberRichard Powers, Playground, Hutchinson HeinemannGayl Jones, The Unicorn Woman, ViragoGUESTSMadeleine Gray, critic and writer whose debut novel, Green Dot, was published in 2023 and is now being adapted for screen. Winner of the Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year at the 2024 ABIAsEthan Blue, Associate Professor of History at the University of W.A., where he specialises in histories of punishment, migration and incarceration.  Author of The Deportation Express: A History of America through Forced Removal https://www.ucpress.edu/books/the-deportation-express/hardcoverOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDBonnie Garmus, Lessons in ChemistryReginald Rose, Twelve Angry MenMiriam Toews, Women TalkingJulia Langbein, American MermaidRosemarie Garland-Thomson, Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body Neil Stephenson, Termination ShockEleanor Catton. Birnam WoodZora Neal Hurston, There Eyes are Watching GodLangston Hughes, worksW.E.B. Du Bois, worksRichard Wright, worksElla Baxter, Woo WooAnne Carson, Eros the BittersweetPercival Everett, JamesIvan Chaar Lopez, The Cybernetic Border: Drones, Technology, and IntrusionFelicity Amaya Schaeffer, Unsettled Borders: The Militarized Science of Surveillance on Sacred Indigenous LandsFrederick Jamieson, The Political UnconsciousMargaret Drabble, worksThomas Hardy, worksCREDITSCREDITSPresenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer: Harvey O'Sullivan, Simon BranthwaiteExecutive producer: Rhiannon Brown