Winter

BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Times, Guardian, Observer, Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, New York Times . . . n n 'Dazzling. Grief and pain are transfigured by luminous moments of humour, insight and connection . . . Even in the bleak midwinter, Smith is evergreen' Daily Telegraph n n 'Graceful, mischievous, joyful . . . Infused with some much-needed humour, happiness and hope' Independent n n 'A novel of great ferocity, tenderness and generosity of spirit . . . Luminously beautiful' Observer n n From the Baileys Prize-winning, Man Booker-shortlisted author of Autumn and How to be both . . . n n The unmissable second novel in Ali Smith's acclaimed 'Seasonal' quartet n n 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. n n The world shrinks; the sap sinks. n But winter makes things visible. And if there's ice, there'll be fire. n n 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's shape-shifting quartet of novels 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. n n It's the season that teaches us survival. n n Here comes Winter. n