There but for the Book

Ali Smith twice shortlisted for both the Man Booker and the Orange Prizes is back with the sparkling "There but for the"...'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" has been 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"). Ali Smith is the author of novels "Girl Meets Boy" "Like" and the bestsellers "The Accidental" and "Hotel World". She has published the short story collections "The First Person and Other Stories" "Free Love and Other Stories" "Other Stories and Other Stories" and "The Whole Story and Other Stories". She has been twice-shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize twice nominated for the Orange Prize and won the Whitbread Novel of the Year in 2005.

A sparkling satire from the Booker Prize-shortlisted, Women's Prize-winning author of How to be both and the critically acclaimed Seasonal quartet'Playful, humorous, serious, profoundly clever and profoundly affecting' Guardian'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 first appear...*****'Adventurous, intoxicating, dazzling. This is a novel with serious ambitions that remains huge fun to read'Literary Review'Smith can make anything happen, which is why she is one of our most exciting writers today' Daily Telegraph

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 the consequences of th