Francis King
Seduced By A Stranger
The Accidental
By Ali Smith
Hamish Hamilton 306pp £14.99
The basic plot of Ali Smith’s novel is a familiar one. Unannounced and unexpected, a mysterious stranger irrupts from nowhere into a household, to transform its members’ lives. Having performed that task, leaving behind either devastation or renewal, the visitant then vanishes.
Smith’s household consists of four people on a summer holiday in what has been misleadingly advertised as a ‘Tudor Farmhouse next to a picturesque village on the Norfolk Broads’ but is in fact a dilapidated eyesore on the fringes of a near-slum. Eve, having published a successful series of imaginary
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
‘At times, Orbital feels almost like a long poem.’
@sam3reynolds on Samantha Harvey’s Orbital, the winner of this year’s @TheBookerPrizes
Sam Reynolds - Islands in the Sky
Sam Reynolds: Islands in the Sky - Orbital by Samantha Harvey
literaryreview.co.uk
Nick Harkaway, John le Carré's son, has gone back to the 1960s with a new novel featuring his father's anti-hero, George Smiley.
But is this the missing link in le Carré’s oeuvre, asks @ddguttenplan, or is there something awry?
D D Guttenplan - Smiley Redux
D D Guttenplan: Smiley Redux - Karla’s Choice by Nick Harkaway
literaryreview.co.uk
In the nine centuries since his death, El Cid has been presented as a prototypical crusader, a paragon of religious toleration and the progenitor of a united Spain.
David Abulafia goes in search of the real El Cid.
David Abulafia - Legends of the Phantom Rider
David Abulafia: Legends of the Phantom Rider - El Cid: The Life and Afterlife of a Medieval Mercenary by Nora Berend
literaryreview.co.uk