#1 - Autumn
SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2017
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.
'Undoubtedly Smith at her best. Puckish, yet elegant; angry, but comforting' The Times
Daniel is a century old. Elisabeth, born in 1984, has her eye on the future. The United Kingdom is in pieces, divided by a historic once-in-a-generation summer.
Love is won, love is lost. Hope is hand in hand with hopelessness. The seasons roll round, as ever . . .
Discover all four instalments: Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. Ali Smith's new novel, Companion piece, is available now.
*****
ONE OF THE GUARDIAN'S BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY
'Undoubtedly Smith at her best. Puckish, yet elegant; angry, but comforting' The Times
'Bold and brilliant' Observer
'Terrific, extraordinary, playful . . . There is an awful lot to lift the soul' Daily Mail
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2017
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.
'Undoubtedly Smith at her best. Puckish, yet elegant; angry, but comforting' The Times
Daniel is a century old. Elisabeth, born in 1984, has her eye on the future. The United Kingdom is in pieces, divided by a historic once-in-a-generation summer.
Love is won, love is lost. Hope is hand in hand with hopelessness. The seasons roll round, as ever . . .
Discover all four instalments: Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. Ali Smith's new novel, Companion piece, is available now.
*****
ONE OF THE GUARDIAN'S BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY
'Undoubtedly Smith at her best. Puckish, yet elegant; angry, but comforting' The Times
'Bold and brilliant' Observer
'Terrific, extraordinary, playful . . . There is an awful lot to lift the soul' Daily Mail
#2 - Winter
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.
Winter? Bleak. Frosty wind, earth as iron, water as stone, so the old song goes. The shortest days, the longest nights. The trees are bare and shivering. The summer's leaves? Dead litter.
The world shrinks; the sap sinks.
But winter makes things visible. And if there's ice, there'll be fire.
In Ali Smith's Winter, lifeforce matches up to the toughest of the seasons. In this second novel in her acclaimed Seasonal cycle, the follow-up to her sensational Autumn, Smith casts a merry eye over a bleak post-truth era with a story rooted in history, memory and warmth, its taproot deep in the evergreens: art, love, laughter.
It's the season that teaches us survival.
Here comes Winter.
Discover all four instalments: Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. Ali Smith's new novel, Companion piece, is available to pre-order now.
*****
'Dazzling . . . Even in the bleak midwinter, Smith is evergreen' Daily Telegraph
'Graceful, mischievous, joyful . . . Infused with some much-needed humour, happiness and hope' Independent
'A novel of great ferocity, tenderness and generosity of spirit . . . Luminously beautiful' Observer
Winter? Bleak. Frosty wind, earth as iron, water as stone, so the old song goes. The shortest days, the longest nights. The trees are bare and shivering. The summer's leaves? Dead litter.
The world shrinks; the sap sinks.
But winter makes things visible. And if there's ice, there'll be fire.
In Ali Smith's Winter, lifeforce matches up to the toughest of the seasons. In this second novel in her acclaimed Seasonal cycle, the follow-up to her sensational Autumn, Smith casts a merry eye over a bleak post-truth era with a story rooted in history, memory and warmth, its taproot deep in the evergreens: art, love, laughter.
It's the season that teaches us survival.
Here comes Winter.
Discover all four instalments: Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. Ali Smith's new novel, Companion piece, is available to pre-order now.
*****
'Dazzling . . . Even in the bleak midwinter, Smith is evergreen' Daily Telegraph
'Graceful, mischievous, joyful . . . Infused with some much-needed humour, happiness and hope' Independent
'A novel of great ferocity, tenderness and generosity of spirit . . . Luminously beautiful' Observer
#3 - Spring
SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER
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.
'Her best yet, a dazzling hymn to hope, uniting the past and present with a chorus of voices' Observer
What unites Katherine Mansfield, Charlie Chaplin, Shakespeare, Rilke, Beethoven, Brexit, the present, the past, the north, the south, the east, the west, a man mourning lost times, a woman trapped in modern times?
Spring. The great connective.
With an eye to the migrancy of story over time, and riffing on Pericles, one of Shakespeare's most resistant and rollicking works, Ali Smith tells the impossible tale of an impossible time. In a time of walls and lockdown Smith opens the door.
The time we're living in is changing nature. Will it change the nature of story?
Hope springs eternal.
Discover all four instalments: Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. Ali Smith's new novel, Companion piece, is available now.
*****
'An astonishing accomplishment and a book for all seasons' Independent
'Smith is a masterful storyteller . . . Savour it' Evening Standard
'Infectious in its energy and warmth' Daily Telegraph
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.
'Her best yet, a dazzling hymn to hope, uniting the past and present with a chorus of voices' Observer
What unites Katherine Mansfield, Charlie Chaplin, Shakespeare, Rilke, Beethoven, Brexit, the present, the past, the north, the south, the east, the west, a man mourning lost times, a woman trapped in modern times?
Spring. The great connective.
With an eye to the migrancy of story over time, and riffing on Pericles, one of Shakespeare's most resistant and rollicking works, Ali Smith tells the impossible tale of an impossible time. In a time of walls and lockdown Smith opens the door.
The time we're living in is changing nature. Will it change the nature of story?
Hope springs eternal.
Discover all four instalments: Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. Ali Smith's new novel, Companion piece, is available now.
*****
'An astonishing accomplishment and a book for all seasons' Independent
'Smith is a masterful storyteller . . . Savour it' Evening Standard
'Infectious in its energy and warmth' Daily Telegraph
#4 - Summer
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
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