The Penguin Podcast is back! Listen Now
The Accidental

The Accidental

Summary

'My mother began me one evening in 1968 on a table in the café of the town's only cinema . . .'

One hot summer a stranger arrives at the Norfolk holiday home of the Smart family. Intriguing, beguiling, arresting, Amber brings love, joy, pain and not a little upheaval, throwing the carefully ordered world of the Smarts into the air. They will be forever changed by Amber but how will they know whether it is for the bad, the good or something else entirely?

'Joyous ... writing as rapture, as giddy delight' The Times

'Funny, sexy, poignant, bewitching' Observer

Reviews

  • Brilliant and engaging, frequently hilarious, exhilaratingly sharp-eyed . . . Smith makes one look at the world afresh
    Sunday Telegraph

About the author

Ali Smith

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 Women’s Prize. Ali Smith lives in Cambridge.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more