DESCRIPTION

From a literary master, a moving and genre-bending story about our era-spanning search for meaning and knowing

An uncertain near-future. A story of new boundaries drawn between people daily. A not-very brave new world. 

Add two children. And a horse.

From a Scottish word meaning a transient moment, a shock, a faint glimpse, Gliff explores how and why we endeavour to make a mark on the world. In a time when western industry wants to reduce us to algorithms and data—something easily categorizable and predictable—Smith shows us why our humanity, our individual complexities, matter more than ever.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ALI SMITH is the author of many works of fiction, including, most recently, Companion Piece, the "Seasonal Quartet," Public library and other stories, and How to be both, which won the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, the Goldsmiths Prize, and the Costa Novel Award. Her work has four times been short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. Most recently, she won the George Orwell Prize for Political Fiction for Summer. Born in Inverness, Scotland, she lives in Cambridge, England.

REVIEWS

Longlisted for the Highland Book Prize
A Most Anticipated Book of February from the New York Times
A Most Anticipated Book from Vogue, New York Times Book Review Podcast, Bustle, The Millions, and Literary Hub

“Part of the joy of Gliff is that, while it is a dystopia, there are moments of genuine humor.”
—The New Yorker

“In the splendid botanical gardens of Ms. Smith’s fiction…words bloom and flourish in their many definitions, both known and newly invented…The linguistic wildness of Ms. Smith’s writing, always a joyful signature of her books, contrasts effectively with the state’s urge to restrict speech and silo the population into fixed and exclusionary categories…Smith’s great strength is her grasp of the strangeness and multiplicity of language.”
—Wall Street Journal

"Ali Smith’s miraculous Gliff is at once a pitch-black take on the authoritarian future and a tender, hilarious and ultimately uplifting portrait of two young siblings as they battle to escape it. Full of jokes and wordplay, kindness and connection…A ray of hope after a year like this one."
—Paul Murray, The Irish Times' "Books of the Year"

“An ingenious speculative novel. . . . Smith makes the most of her protagonists’ youthful perspectives to bring a sense of wonder, inquisitiveness, and pathos to the story. . . . The lush narrative doubles as an anthem of resistance, in this case against tyranny and the destruction of the environment. Inspired references to Charles Dickens and Virginia Woolf add to Smith’s literary tapestry. The results are extraordinary.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“But that mood [of angst] is frequently lightened by the author’s gift for conveying a fizzily fresh and vibrant young person’s mind. . . . A dark vision brightened by the engaging craft of an inventive writer.”
—Kirkus, starred review