Editions

There but for the

  • Imprint: Penguin

  • ISBN: 9780141025193

  • Length: 384  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 23mm x 129mm

  • Weight: 266g

  • RRP: £8.99

There but for the

There but for the is the sparkling satirical novel by bestselling Ali Smith

'There once was a man who, one night between the main course and the sweet at a dinner party, went upstairs and locked himself in one of the bedrooms of the house of the people who were giving the dinner party . . .'

As time passes by and the consequences of this stranger's actions ripple outwards, touching the owners, the guests, the neighbours and the whole country, so Ali Smith draws us into a beautiful, strange place where everyone is so much more than they at first appear.

There but for the was hailed as one of the best books of 2011 by Jeanette Winterson, A.S. Byatt, Patrick Ness, Sebastian Barry, Boyd Tonkin, Erica Wagner and Nick Barley.

'Dazzlingly inventive' A.S. Byatt

'Whimsically devastating. Playful, humorous, serious, profoundly clever and profoundly affecting' Guardian

'A real gem' Erica Wagner, The Times

'Eccentric, adventurous, intoxicating, dazzling. This is a novel with serious ambitions that remains huge fun to read' Literary Review

'If you liked Smith's earlier fiction, you will know that she enjoys setting up a situation before chucking in a literary Molotov cocktail then describing what happens' Sunday Express

'Wonderful, word-playful, compelling' Jeanette Winterson

'Smith can make anything happen, which is why she is one of our most exciting writers today' Daily Telegraph

'I take my hat off to Ali Smith. Her writing lifts the soul' Evening Standard

  • Imprint: Penguin

  • ISBN: 9780141025193

  • Length: 384  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 23mm x 129mm

  • Weight: 266g

  • RRP: £8.99

Reviews

  • Whimsically devastating. Playful, humorous, serious, profoundly clever and profoundly affecting

    Guardian

  • Remarkable. A brilliant novel: funny, serious, always surprising, always true

    The Times

  • I take my hat off to Ali Smith. Her writing lifts the soul

    Evening Standard

  • A playfully serious or seriously playful novel full of wit and pleasure. Wonderful

    Observer

  • Eccentric, adventurous, intoxicating, dazzling. This is a novel with serious ambitions that remains huge fun to read. The writing dances along

    Literary Review

  • Poignant, empathetic, funny. A book full of kindness and compassion

    Time Out

  • Fizzying, affectionate, sparkling. Smith presents her world view in words as fresh as lemons. A joyful read

    Herald

  • A tour de force

    Financial Times

  • A virtuoso piece of writing, both funny and gripping . . . Smith is a writer with a rich array of conventional strengths

    Times Literary Supplement

  • A must read

    Toronto NOW

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About the Author

Ali Smith

Ali Smith was born in Inverness in 1962. She is the author of many novels, including most recently Autumn, Winter and Spring in the 'Seasonal' quartet. Her 2014 novel How to be both won the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, the Goldsmiths Prize and the Costa Novel of the Year Award. She has also been shortlisted once for the Orwell Prize, twice for the Orange Prize and four times for the Man Booker Prize, among many other prizes. Ali Smith lives in Cambridge.

Ali Smith

Related articles

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Features

Ali Smith returns with Spring: 'We must look to ourselves for hope'

20 March 2019
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Features

Ali Smith on the post-truth era: ‘There is still a light’

18 September 2018
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Extracts

Public Library and other stories by Ali Smith

05 August 2015

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