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

‘Exquisite. Smith is in a class of her own’ Nicola Sturgeon

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.

ALL FOUR INSTALMENTS OF THE QUARTET ARE AVAILABLE TO READ IN EBOOK NOW: AUTUMN, WINTER, SPRING AND SUMMER.

‘The first great coronavirus novel – a book to savour, a literary tour de force that captures the nation’s psyche exquisitely’ Evening Standard

‘An astonishing finale to a prescient series . . . Ali Smith brilliantly weaves strands of joy and celebration to end her Seasonal Quartet’ Irish Times

‘A maestra’s portrait of her age . . . remarkable’ Guardian