Autumn, by Ali Smith

Ancient Daniel Gluck is in a nursing home, seemingly hovering between life and death. His unconscious mind roams around his past and possible future, exploring history and potential afterlife, visiting his younger sister and old loves. Elisabeth is a young academic with insecure work and little hope of improving her circumstances. Daniel was a formative influence on Elisabeth as a child, fostering her love of art and learning, providing refuge from a neglectful mother. She visits Daniel in the nursing home, patiently reading second hand classic novels while he sleeps, hoping that he will wake. The setting is southern England, immediately following the Brexit vote. Autumn perhaps symbolises winding down and decay, a bridge between the brightness of summer and a looming stone-cold winter. At the same time the book compares and contrasts the current divisive and difficult times with similar periods in history, focusing on how it all affects individuals – like Daniel’s long-lost sister. Interwoven with all this are references to artist Pauline Boty, a largely forgotten pioneer of pop art, who is important to both Daniel and Elisabeth. Smith’s style is elliptical, sometimes whimsical, often poetic and occasionally frustrating, as it hints and omits, using nature as metaphor and ultimately offering just a glimmer of hope.