Synopsis
Winner of the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2021
Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021
The unmissable finale to Ali Smith's dazzling literary tour de force: the Seasonal quartet concludes in 2020 with Summer.
In the present, Sacha knows the world's in trouble. Her brother Robert just is trouble. Their mother and father are having trouble. Meanwhile the world's in meltdown - and the real meltdown hasn't even started yet. In the past, a lovely summer. A different brother and sister know they're living on borrowed time.
This is a story about people on the brink of change. They're family, but they think they're strangers. So: where does family begin? And what do people who think they've got nothing in common have in common?
Summer.
Publisher information
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
- ISBN: 9780241973370
- Number of pages: 400
- Dimensions: 196 x 128 x 23 mm
- Weight: 278g
- Languages: English
Customer Reviews
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What a year!
The last of the seasonal quartet and what a finale. A contemporary novel encompassing the current affairs of 2020 thus far – Brexit, global COVID-19 pandem... READ MORE
Does all the things that Ali Smith does best...
'Summer' does all the things that Ali Smith does best. Social insight: spot on. Political commentary: forthright. Big serious topics: fearless. Historical ... READ MORE
Fitting finale
This is a marvellous and thoughtful novel that captures the horrors of 2020. I came to it without having read the three previous novels. I found it funny, ... READ MORE
A great ending
I liked this overall but there sections i didn't really like. This was a good ending to the quartet and i like the overall message that Smith had in this. ... READ MORE
"The briefest and slipperiest of the seasons" will stay with me for a long time
It feels like Summer hardly needs any more praise, but as a quartet, these books have buoyed me through the strangeness of the past year. I picked up Autum... READ MORE
When did we lose our compassion?
NO SPOILERS
I have read the previous three books so was eager to read this final part of Ali Smith’s quartet and oh my, what a finale!
Summer is the most... READ MORE
A perfect ending to the quartet, although I don't really want them to end
I've had the others in this series for months but hadn't read them. When I got this as an advanced copy I brushed off the other three and read one every da... READ MORE
Expansive and intimate
If you asked me to describe what Summer was about, I'm not sure I'd be able to - or at least not without writing another novel in response.
Ali Smith's pr... READ MORE
Ali Smith - Summer
The seasonal quartet comes to a conclusion with “Summer” which is set in the troubling spring of 2020. Teenagers Sacha and Robert know about the problems t... READ MORE
Good book
Ali Smith has hit the target again with her insightful writing. Her prose is almost poetic and her stories are not to be rushed, instead they are to be re... READ MORE
It made me cry
I read it as soon as It came out and the optimistic tone at the end made me cry ( out of joy ) . It is a wonderful way to close this quartet that has accom... READ MORE
Struggling with this
I'm not entirely sure where its going.
I'm reading it currently and not sure if its a series of short stories that don't really end or if it's all going ... READ MORE
A wonderful conclusions to an era defining quartet
Ali Smith's publication of the volumes of her Seasonal Quartet has been the highlight for me of each of the last three years - and now we reach the final v... READ MORE
Excellent and Relevant
And so the excellent seasonal quartet is completed with Summer a time for hope (not hate). Once again Ali Smith considers the state of a country that has s... READ MORE
Timely
This is a brilliant ending to this quartet, and I cannot believe how quickly Ali Smith has written these, and smoothly incorporated recent events. I have o... READ MORE
Women's Prize for Fiction 2021 Longlisted
So this has made the Women's Prize for fiction longlist 2021 and I am assured it reads fine as a standalone book too.
I was concerned as it is the final pa... READ MORE
Beautifully written
‘Summer is a merry tale out of a sad one’. Well we live in hope it’s a merry one.
Well, you either like Ali Smith’s style or you don’t but what I do lik... READ MORE
Just not for me
Oh dear! This is the third Ali Smith Seasons book I have read and I’m no further ahead in ‘getting it’.
I found with all three of them that there were part... READ MORE
When did we lose our compassion?
NO SPOILERS
I have read the previous three books so was eager to read this final part of Ali Smith’s quartet and oh my, what a finale!
Summer is the most... READ MORE
Not impressed, I am sorry to say.
‘’No point in asking anyone else to hold your world.’’
In the last instalment of the monumental Seasonal Quartet, Ali Smith introduces to families that ha... READ MORE
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