Spring

June 10, 2019
Like its two predecessors in Smithâs acclaimed Seasonal Quartet (Autumn and Winter), this dynamic novel captures the many turmoils of life in the contemporary U.K. through ecstatic language and indirect narrative collisions. The first third, set mostly on a Scottish train platform, concerns Richard Lease, an over-the-hill TV and film director mourning his recently deceased collaborator, Paddy. Rife with nuanced reflections on the nature of art and mourning, Richardâs ruminative section is the bookâs most immediate and engaging. After Richard lowers himself into the path of an oncoming train, readers meet his would-be rescuer, Brit, a security guard at a migrant detention facility. Brit has been lured into an impromptu journey by Florence, a pseudo-messianic young girl seemingly capable of inspiring empathy in even the darkest of hearts. The three mismatched characters are soon traveling together, on their way to an old battlefield where the violences of yesteryear and the present day will converge. As was the case with Autumn and Winter, the novelâs setting is its foremost strength and increasingly enervating flaw, leading to writing that alternately astounds and exasperates. About three-quarters of the way through the third quarter of this series, the bookâs most memorable character, Richard, provides a relevant description of the whole enterprise, a response for every season: âGimmicky, but impressive all the same.â Agent: Andrew Wylie, the Wylie Agency.

Juliette Burton's performance of the third volume of Ali Smith's seasonal novels is outstanding. Burton ensures that the characters are distinct and authentic and that we don't miss a single note of the biting wit that pervades this Brexit-era novel. She deftly exhibits the hopelessness that Richard, a director, experiences as he mourns the death of his best friend and struggles with a new scriptwriter who invents fake history. Brittany is losing her humanity a bit at a time as an officer at an Immigration Removal Center when she meets Florence, a 12-year-old girl, on a train. Burton softens her voice for the young and wise child who evades the Center's security--she is invisible to both society and guards--and shames the head bureaucrat into getting the toilets cleaned. A.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine