Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

I sat down to finish this in a coffee shop and had to leave because I started tearing up. Devastatingly beautiful, honest, precise — it articulates the inarticulable, but somehow never comes across as didactic or overly earnest. I've always been a certified Rooney Head™ and a Conversations With Friends purist, but here, I bend the knee. This is is her best work yet, full stop