Synopses & Reviews
The Accidental is the dizzyingly entertaining, wickedly humorous story of a mysterious stranger whose sudden appearance during a family's summer holiday transforms four variously unhappy people. Each of the Smarts-parents Eve and Michael, son Magnus, and the youngest, daughter Astrid-encounter Amber in his or her own solipsistic way, but somehow her presence allows them to se their lives (and their life together) in a new light. Smith's exhilarating facility with language, her narrative freedom, and her chromatic wordplay propel the novel to its startling, wonderfully enigmatic conclusion.Ali Smith's acclaimed novel won the prestigious Whitbread Award and was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize, the Orange Prize, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
Synopsis
From the Man Booker Prize-shortlisted, Baileys Women's Prize-winning author of How to be both and the critically acclaimed Seasonal quartet 'Brilliant and engaging, frequently hilarious. . . Smith makes one look at the world afresh' Sunday Telegraph
'A beguiling page-turner... To read The Accidental is to be excited from first to last' Independent
'Joyous' The Times
The Accidental pans in on the Norfolk holiday home of the Smart family one hot summer. There a beguiling stranger called Amber appears at the door bearing all sorts of unexpected gifts, trampling over family boundaries and sending each of the Smarts scurrying from the dark into the light.
A novel about the ways that seemingly chance encounters irrevocably transform our understanding of ourselves, The Accidental explores the nature of truth, the role of fate and the power of storytelling.
Synopsis
The Accidental is Ali Smith's dazzling novel about a family holiday and a stranger who upends it. Arresting and wonderful,
The Accidental pans in on the Norfolk holiday home of the Smart family one hot summer. There a beguiling stranger called Amber appears at the door bearing all sorts of unexpected gifts, trampling over family boundaries and sending each of the Smarts scurrying from the dark into the light.
A novel about the ways that seemingly chance encounters irrevocably transform our understanding of ourselves, The Accidental explores the nature of truth, the role of fate and the power of storytelling.
'A beguiling page-turner. . . a brilliant creation. To read The Accidental is to be excited from first to last' Independent
'Joyous, a shot across the bows. . . writing as rapture, as giddy delight' The Times
'Brilliant and engaging, frequently hilarious. . . Smith makes one look at the world afresh' Sunday Telegraph
Synopsis
WINNER OF THE COSTA NOVEL OF THE YEARSHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZESHORTLISTED FOR THE SALTIRE AWARD
'Joyous' The Times The Accidental pans in on the Norfolk holiday home of the Smart family one hot summer. There a beguiling stranger called Amber appears at the door bearing all sorts of unexpected gifts, trampling over family boundaries and sending each of the Smarts scurrying from the dark into the light.
A novel about the ways that seemingly chance encounters irrevocably transform our understanding of ourselves, The Accidental explores the nature of truth, the role of fate and the power of storytelling.
*****
'Brilliant and engaging, frequently hilarious. . . Smith makes one look at the world afresh' Sunday Telegraph
'Funny, sexy, poignant, bewitching' Observer
'A beguiling page-turner . . . To read The Accidental is to be excited from first to last' Independent