Description

WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR FICTION 2021
LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE 2021

A once-in-a-generation series, Ali Smith’s Seasonal quartet is a tour-de-force about love, time, art, politics, and how we live now.

‘A maestra’s portrait of her age . . . remarkable’ Guardian

In the present, Sacha knows the world’s in trouble. Her brother Robert just is trouble. Their mother and father are having trouble. Meanwhile the world’s in meltdown – and the real meltdown hasn’t even started yet. In the past, a lovely summer. A different brother and sister know they’re living on borrowed time.

This is a story about people on the brink of change. They’re family, but they think they’re strangers. So: where does family begin? And what do people who think they’ve got nothing in common have in common?

Summer.

Discover all four instalments: Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. Ali Smith’s new novel, Companion piece, is available now.

*****
‘The first great coronavirus novel – a book to savour, a literary tour de force’ Evening Standard

‘Exquisite. Smith is in a class of her own’ Nicola Sturgeon

‘An astonishing finale to a prescient series . . . Ali Smith brilliantly weaves strands of joy and celebration to end her Seasonal Quartet’ Irish Times

Publisher Review

An astonishing finale to a prescient series . . . Ali Smith brilliantly weaves strands of joy and celebration to end her Seasonal Quartet * Evening Standard * The first great coronavirus novel - a book to savour, a literary tour de force that captures the nation's psyche exquisitely * Evening Standard * This singular writer has found her moment * Prospect * A maestra's portrait of her age. . . remarkable * Guardian * Few writers today can make a more compelling claim to singularity of innovation and sustained brilliance * TLS * The bravura performance of a writer, poised at the edge of the day's vast darkness, gathering all the warmth and light of our inner summer * The Washington Post * Smith bring[s] this brilliant quartet to a satisfying close * NPR * The final flourish of a mazy and beautiful quartet * Telegraph * Sublime * The Boston Globe * Brilliant * The Scotsman * The novel's hopeful message about the healing power of friendship ensures the quartet ends on a feel-good note * Sunday Times * A remarkable experiment with timeliness in fiction * Literary Review *