There but for the

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