The Accidental

from the United Kingdom: "An outstanding novel . . . Exuberantly inventive . . . Beautifully formed and astringently intelligent . . . It is as good as anyone who has been watching the progress of this talented author could possibly have hoped." -"The Sunday Times" "Funny, sexy, poignant, surprising, playful . . . Although the novel dazzles with the richness of language and ideas, it retains a delicious lightness." -"The Observer" "Spectacular . . . Allusive, ambitious and formally acrobatic . . . Original, restless, formally and morally challenging, [Ali Smith] remains a writer who resists definition." -"The Times Literary Supplement" "Amazing . . . Dazzling . . . Smith is one of our greatest imaginative writers." -"The Scotsman" "Joyous . . . Smith plays dizzying games with her story and language; she bends and buckles her prose, breathes fire into it, lets it cool, swirls it up in unimaginable shapes. This is writing as pure rapture, as giddy delight." -"The Times" "From the Hardcover edition." " Astonishing. . . . Vivid and affecting. . . . Wonderfully supple, jazzy." - "The New York Times" " Persistently sparkling pages...of startling and clarifying emotional power. . . . It casts a spell." -- "The Atlantic Monthly" " Completely captivating. . . . Thoroughly charming and melodic. . . .Devilishly lovely." -- "The Boston Globe" " Beautifully executed. . . . A few pages [in] and you begin to remember how much fun it is to put yourself in the hands of a skilled, majestically confident writer. . . . Delightful." -- "The New York Observer" " Brims with wit, humor, and energy." -- "The Christian Science Monitor" "Astonishing. . . . Vivid and affecting. . . . Wonderfully supple, jazzy." -"The New York Times" "Persistently sparkling pages...of startling and clarifying emotional power. . . . It casts a spell." --"The Atlantic Monthly" "Completely captivating. . . . Thoroughly charming and melodic. . . .Devilishly lovely." --"The Boston Globe" "Beautifully executed. . . . A few pages [in] and you begin to remember how much fun it is to put yourself in the hands of a skilled, majestically confident writer. . . . Delightful." --"The New York Observer" "Brims with wit, humor, and energy." --"The Christian Science Monitor"

Ali Smith was born in Inverness in 1962. She is the author of several novels and short story collections including, The Accidental, Hotel World, How to Be Both and the Seasonal Quartet. She has been four times shortlisted for the Booker Prize, has won the Goldsmiths Prize, Orwell Prize, Costa Best Novel Award and the Womens Prize. Ali Smith lives in Cambridge.