Gliff

The first of two novels, Gliff, which is a Scottish/northern word for a shock, a fright, a transient moment, a glance or sudden glimpse, will be followed by a second novel in 2025, called Glyph (a signifying mark – as in ‘hieroglyph’). Glyph, the second novel, will tell a story which is hidden in the first so the two books will belong together but can be read independently. The two books will form a new step in Ali’s writing journey, different in form and feeling from the Seasonal Quartet (plus Companion piece) and will look very different too. Ali always keeps her novels under wraps until they are finished, and the surprise of reading a book only when it is complete, knowing almost nothing of its content, is part of the magic. The first of two new, interconnected novels from bestselling, award-winning, Booker-Prize shortlisted author Ali SmithFollowing her dazzling five-novel portrait of our age, the ‘Seasonal’ sequence, Ali Smith returns with the first of two novels which belong together but can be read independently.Gliff – a Scots or Northern word for a glimpse, a shock, a glance – will not only tell its own story but also contain within it a hidden story, to be revealed only in a second novel, Glyph – from the Greek, meaning a mark, carving or symbol – to be published a year later.In form and feeling, Gliff will light a new, fabular and fabulist path for Ali Smith and for us through the gathering darkness of our chaotic times.