What to say about Ali Smith which has not already been said. Her ability to merge an historical event of which you thought you knew something, with her own story, to reveal you in fact only knew half the story. Masterful. Surely earns her place in the pantheon of great writers.

An incredible book and as usual with Ali Smiths book I do not have the adequate words to express how wonderful her novels are. All I can say about her quartet is that I encourage everyone to read them, her writing is magical and surreal and just absolutely marvelous.

This is the third instalment in Smith's Seasonal Quartet and I enjoyed it just as much as her previous two. It tells the story of Richard, Brittany and Florence. They are very different, from different walks of life, who randomly drift towards one another. We see people meet one another, and form a bond, when they are totally unaware of what they are looking for in the first place. This book will resonate with many, what happened in the past, why didn't things go your way, what cause endeavours to fail, who was responsible, what did each of us do wrong. Indeed each piece of the quartet evoke such questioning. It was a great read. I look forward already to the final installment.

This is the third in Ali Smith’s “seasonal” novels and, as might be expected, is complex and multi-layered. It questions current assumptions while bedded deep in natural and cultural traditions – old traditions and new ones that are being laid down. Spring is the period of environmental renewal in Britain, part of an ongoing cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth – although we must surely all be aware that of the growing threats to this long established cycle by the casual, but quietly irresponsible, behaviour of all the humans on this planet.
This natural cycle will be matched across the novel with a storyline that explores individual human behaviour and its implications for others. How a person falls into a certain way of life and how they can tolerate behaviour that they know is wrong or destructive. What exactly will make them review this and maybe change it, what risks great or small they can or will endure on this path. But furthermore will they recognise that the importance of what they are doing lies in not just the larger things but the smaller too. People do not live on this planet alone – you inevitably mix with others. You need to ask what might be their real agendas, values or aims - do they trust you, manipulate you, or lie to you? Once involved with others, and with the risks maybe becoming too great, how will they respond – and when they react how later still will they explain or justify what they have done.
This tale will bring a cluster of people moving through life to a series of incidents in Scotland. All will need to examine who they are and what they are doing with their lives. Among them will be Brittany Hall, a young London lass, who, in the absence of other work, has become a guard at an immigration detention centre (although politically using other terminology). She will hear a seemingly bizarre tale of a powerful (magical?) young girl (Florence) who has managed to get passed security systems into the centre and persuade the manager to carry out changes. Florence will re-appear to attach herself to Brittany and ask her to travel up north to an uncertain. She is trying to track her mother, possibly travelling along what may be an underground escape line for refugees. In Scotland they will meet other people who may or may not be linked to the line. There is an older failing film director Richard – estranged from his only child, but suffering the death of his oldest friend and artistic mentor Paddy, but nevertheless trying to plan a new project that is true to her values. In Scotland too they will meet “Alda Lyons” a librarian (maybe) and van driver and together they will travel. But challenges to state authority will not be allowed to pass unchallenged.
So this is a tale of then and now, truths and untruths, realities, wishes and dreams and how people might manoeuvre through them. It is about relationships deep and enduring, pragmatic or transient. It is about people’s wants and desires and how they will try and meet them. But it will also speak to the things they look to – art, culture, literature, music, friendships, family or maybe nature to see them through the more difficult hours and days. This book is therefore firmly bedded in nature, culture and history too – things that Smith – like many – obviously regards of value. So this a valuable read, but it is one with its complexity of references that will encourage rereading to appreciate its depths and nuances.

The third instalment in her Seasonal Quartet, I had kept this in the TBR pile for a while, and it finally felt like the right time.

I enjoyed Autumn and loved Winter, and Spring was a slowburner but perhaps my favourite one.
It’s the story of a ragtag bunch of people who find each other at the right moment. We first meet Richard on a train platform, lost and grieving his friend. The artist in this book is Tacita Dean, her chalkboards described with mountains that take up the whole giant room. For me though, it was more about the authors – Rilke and Mansfield. I wanted to read more about Mansfield and of her stories. I know something of Rilke from another book, actually – The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger.

It’s this layering and overlapping of real and imaginary that makes Smith’s writing so magnetic. She weaves a tapestry which has a grounding in the real world, with recognisable politicians and news stories, locations and events, and inserts in them magical elements such as a girl who can walk through walls and disappear.

Brittany works in an immigration removal centre, in an avalanche of TLAs and a defensive position about her job being important and not illegal at all. There’s an irony, she admits herself, of being named after a place outside of England, and working for an IRC.
This section is so vivid, the casual cruelty of calling people ‘deets’ instead of man, woman and child. The inhumanity that needs to take place in order for other human beings to see people as objects to be treated badly. It’s sad for both the people who work in the centre and have seen their souls tamped down or disintegrated but also clearly, much worse for the people who are taken there and held without cause. What makes this so much more impactful is that many of the stories told in the novel are true, attributed to an anonymous source and others, at the end of the book.

Florence enters as the schoolgirl who can make magic happen, and she unites Brittany and Richard in a quest about hope and finding what you are looking for in places you hadn’t thought to look.

A large part of the quartet is about the past, about examining where things went wrong or relationships broke down, and this is a really easy thing to relate to, I think.
It’s so interesting because I’m both happy and sad, reading this and the others. I love how she puts language together and the stories are beautiful, but there’s a jagged edge to it which sits like a stone in your stomach, a kind of nostalgic longing for something but you’re not sure what that is.

Summer was published this year, and it’s definitely on my list for next reads! Maybe I’ll put it on my Christmas list…
I recommend this for Ali Smith lovers, of course, but also anyone looking for a contemporary read on Brexit which involves long dead artists and Charlie Chaplin.

Ive never read any books by this author before so had no idea what to expect but I knew this series of books have been highly thought of.
It was beautifully written and very thoughtful, it is very different to anything I usually read but can understand why it has been up for so many awards.

"Spring will come. The leaves on its trees will open after blossom. Before it arrives, a hundred years of empire-making. The dawn breaks cold and still but, deep in the earth, things are growing."

Ali Smith remains one of our greatest living writers, there's no doubt about it. Her seasonable quartet continues to be a beacon of brilliance, splicing the world around us with precision and expertly explores what it is to be human.

Spring, Ali Smith's third instalment in her seasonal quartet, has multiple narrative layers with diverse cultural references and themes which in part connect with Autumn and Winter and in part want to communicate feelings of renewal and hope - just as you would expect spring to do.
Smith's stated aim for the quartet was to produce works of fiction which found their genesis in the contemporary and were as fresh as possible when hitting the market.
"I’m writing these books instinctually, to a deadline, trying to allow the moment to pass through me and them like we’re a porous skin surface, with the novel form itself — a revolutionary and ever-hopeful, ever-socially-analytical form — as the mast to which we’re tied through the storm. Culture is porous like us, and it enters us as much as we make it. I’ve no idea how these books will read in 10, 20 years. I can’t think about it, I can’t even consider it. The books began as an experiment, a project, an attempt to ask, 1. why the publishing industry generally waits so long to publish a manuscript after it’s finished, and 2. why we don’t allow the novel more to be what it says it is, novel, the latest thing, which is where it gets its name from, and is what people thought of it when the form first appeared. [...] So I sounded out my publisher here in the UK, Simon Prosser at Hamish Hamilton/Penguin, about writing some books named after the seasons, linked but discrete novels very much about time, and writing them to time so that they’d be available to readers as close to their time of being written as possible." (https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/has-art-anything-to-do-with-life-a-conversation-with-ali-smith-on-spring/).

The dual narrative drive starts with the story of Richard, an ageing TV director, who is grieving the passing of a long time friend, Paddy, and on an impulse travels from London to Scotland and lays on train tracks. This is where his plot line collides with that of Brit and Florence. Brit is an officer in an immigration detention centre in London who, also on an impulse, decides to follow 13 year old Florence. Brit believes her to be the same child reported to have charmed her way into the detention centre, where she persuaded the manager to get the toilets cleaned, and into a south London brothel, where she managed to get the young sex slaves freed.

Cultural references include the work of Katherine Mansfield, Rainer Maria Rilke, Charles Dickens, Shakespeare's Pericles, Tacita Dean, Charlie Chaplin. Themes include: the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, borders, colonialism, Brexit, internet-based misogynistic abuse, technology's collusion with consumerism, the future, etc.

None of the above conveys how much I disliked reading this book. I could have given it a 1 star, but have added a star as I recognise that there is quality to the writing and I appreciate the experimental intentions of the author. I had similar feelings about Autumn. I am not sure if the problem for me resides in these two novels specifically or whether it is the quartet or whether it is Ali Smith. I will read (eventually) Summer and How To Be Both to make a final assessment on this.
I could not connect emotionally to any of the writing. Apart from the occasional line here and there, the prose just sounded like an endless inelegant, clunky drone noise as I was reading it. Because of my reaction to her writing I can't help being suspicious of all the positive reviews the quartet has received. That though has probably more to do with me than the books, therefore I don't wish to put other readers off giving these books a go.

Many thanks to Penguin UK and NetGalley for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ali Smith's third installment in her Seasonal Quartet did not disappoint. Again, we are treated to a beautiful book, with gorgeous language that wishes to be savored. I tried to savor it, to take my time indulging in Smith's writing...but like the other two in series I failed to do so. I did savor parts of it but mostly I just devoured it and did not want to part with it once I began. I don't have the words do this book (or series) justice. Smith so brilliantly writes and the good and bad of humanity in the same flowing prose.



I sure do miss the Scotrail lady telling me my train has been delayed though, hits differently. On that note, I am sure there will be many books focussing on the pandemic, lockdown, social distancing, isolating, etc. in the following years. I will not be interested in them...unless Ali Smith writes one, she is the only one I would trust to do so.

I had heard so much about Ali Smith's qaurtet of books and was excited to read Spring and Summer. However, I reallly didn't "connect" with the narrative at all. The "storyline" made little sense to me and I found it frustrating and confusing. I soldiered on for many pages through what seemed to be random ramblings and a disjointed diatribe about, Brexit, migrants, the Tories, the terrrible state of the West etc. hoping that once I reached the stroy about the family in the main section of the book that some sense of more traditional expostion in a novel would be found but I felt hopelessly confused and lost by the concerns and manner of speaking of the hopelessly middle class city dwelling occupants of the household. This book just wasn't for me. As a member of the hoi polloi I couldn't fathom it.

PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION:

“From the bestselling author of Autumn and Winter, as well as the Baileys Prize-winning How to be both, comes the next instalment in the remarkable, once-in-a-generation masterpiece, the Seasonal Quartet What unites Katherine Mansfield, Charlie Chaplin, Shakespeare, Rilke, Beethoven, Brexit, the present, the past, the north, the south, the east, the west, a man mourning lost times, a woman trapped in modern times? Spring. The great connective. With an eye to the migrancy of story over time, and riffing on Pericles, one of Shakespeare's most resistant and rollicking works, Ali Smith tells the impossible tale of an impossible time. In a time of walls and lockdown Smith opens the door. The time we're living in is changing nature. Will it change the nature of story? Hope springs eternal.”


The publisher’s description does little to sell this amazing book from Ali Smith. Frankly, based on it, I would put it back on the shelf. But I recently read Autumn and Winter, the first two in this “seasonal quartet” so I knew Spring would be special…and it is very special. (Incidentally, the books do stand alone but are better if all read.)

There is much contemporary fiction set in the present day but this actually acknowledges the current events, indeed they are the whole essence of this series.

In Spring, Smith focuses mainly on the situation for refugees. Discreetly, with empathy, sympathy, pathos (I could list them all!) even visually, she gives an insight into a life most of us will never know. It’s not preachy, it’s not righteous; it’s so very clever.

Smith’s style is easy to read with a fluency of prose which is rare, and dialogue which is snappy and fast. I love it. Her writing is intelligent, considered, subtly witty and without the reader realising, it makes you take a good look at yourself. There but for the grace of your god…

I don’t want to write more until I have read the final part, Summer, which I am about to do. (The kettle is already on!)

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin UK for the complimentary copy of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed.

This is an astonishingly good series of books. Spring is the third in the Ali Smith quartet and like the others has intertwined narratives with references to contemporary politics as well as links to a Shakespeare play, in this case Pericles, and a woman artist, Tacita Dean in this novel.

In keeping with the Shakespearean reference there is some magical realism here, which I didn’t find intrusive or difficult amidst the very real parts of the narrative which deal with the conditions in which detained asylum seekers (‘deets’) are kept. There are links with the previous novels, but this can also be read as a stand alone.

Smith is achieving something which is quite difficult, reflecting on current times as they are happening and without the benefit of hindsight. I think in future this series of novels will be highly celebrated because of the way in which they do this alongside a compelling narrative and more literary and complex elements.

Spring is the third novel in Ali Smith’s Seasonal quartet which examines the current state of Britain. The books can be read in any order but I do recommend reading them in order.

Spring has two main narratives: Richard who is a film/tv director who has just lost his best friend and collaborator and is feeling lost and falls into depression. And Britt, who works in a migrant detention centre, who embarks on a journey with a young girl she has just met. Eventually the two stories do tie in with each other.

I definitely preferred Britt’s narrative as to be completely honest I just found Richard quite boring and the use of Katherine Mansfield I think just went completely over my head (I’ll admit to not really knowing anything about her), I didn’t understand her meaning to the book.

I’ve read four Ali Smith books now and I still can’t decide if I’m a fan or not. Her writing is lyrical and beautiful but sometimes I just need more from the actual story as I’m usually just left feeling a bit “meh”. I enjoyed Winter more than Spring and will definitely be trying Summer ASAP.

Thanks to NetGalley and @penguinbooksuk for the free ARC

This is book 3 from Ali Smith's highly acclaimed seasonal series. The stories connect, so I really should have read Autumn and Winter first, but I decided to dive right in with this one.

And in case you're wondering, my decision to dive in was not detrimental to the story itself - the books can be read as stand-alone novels.

This is the first Ali Smith book I have ever read, but I enjoyed it immensely, devouring it in two sessions.
Seemingly random threads connect and interweave together. This is a book about politics, borders, climate change, Brexit and racism - but the way this book is written the themes don't take over from the personal stories, instead just providing a background of metaphors and allegory, The characters are likeable, and you feel empathy with the situations they find themselves in. Ultimately, this is a book about hope. Hope for the future. For regrowth. Rebirth. Starting again. Doing better this time around.

I've already got the next (final) book in the series lined up to read next week!

Cerebral but accessible, Ali Smith always gets it just right, I seem to groan at a rubbish pun one minute, then am blown away by a well placed reference the next. Always enjoy her writing and spring is no exception.

There's no doubting that the writing here is stunning and I have nothing but praise for Ali Smith for that.

Certainly, the main issues raised, those being the persecution of migrants and refugees in Brext Britain (or Britain generally), were written with such blistering force that I'd be surprised if anyone, wherever they lie on the political spectrum, didn't feel moved in some way by it.

I guess my rating really falls down due to everything besides that. I just think there were too many references and moments where I was left wondering what I should be thinking. That may not be (and probably isn't) the fault of the author, going by the rave reviews this book has had but I just didn't fully connect as much as I would have loved to.

I should say, I don't believe it's an author's job to tell me what I should think whilst reading and Ali Smith does challenge the reader in the right way for the most part. I just think there were certain times throughout where I couldn't really interpret what certain situations or actions were meant to represent in a wider context.

Thanks to Penguin General and NetGalley for providing me with a copy for review.

Just as the years moves on so does Ali Smith with the third volume of her seasonal quartet. Now, its spring time, the time of the year between death and re-birth, between the end and a new beginning. A promising time, but also a time which can surprise and is hard to foresee. This time, we meet Richard, an elderly filmmaker who is still shaken by his former colleague and friend Patricia Heal’s death. He remembers his last visits when she was already between here and there. Richard is standing on a train platform with clearly suicidal intentions when a girl and a custody officer rush by. Florence and Brittany are headed for a place which they assume somewhere in Scotland, on their journey this unusual couple also addresses the big questions of life and humanity which Brittany can hardly find in the prison she works where the detainees are dehumanised and not even granted the least bit of privacy.

Just like the two novels before in this quartet, Ali Smith captures the mood of the country at a very critical point. In my opinion, “Spring” is absolutely outstanding since it has several layers of narrative, it is philosophical, literary, sociological, psychological, political – an eclectic mix of thoughts and notions that come together or rather have to be put together by the reader. While, on the one hand, being were close to an archaic understanding of the concept of time and the natural course of a year, there are many references to artists and the imaginary world.

Underlying the whole novel is a certain despair - Richard’s grieve, Britt’s disillusion with her job, Florence’s detachedness from humans which makes her almost invisible – in a time of political shaky times: Brexit, migration crisis, an overall suspicion in society about what (social) media and politics tell them and more importantly what they do not tell. Will there come a summer? And if so, what will it be like? As spring always is a new beginning, something might be overcome or left behind and something has the chance to flourish, at least the hope remains.

I found it a bit harder this time to find my way in the novel, therefore, “Autumn” remains my favourite so far and I am quite impatient to see, what “Summer” will bring.

A brilliant story, full of food for thought and emotions.
It's not an easy read but it's gripping and emotionally charged.
It's the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last.
It's strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

My favourite of the seasonal quartet so far, I'm not sure how she does it but Ali Smith manages to capture the feeling of the season of Spring in a book which focuses on loss and immigration.

Not needed to have read Autumn and Winter prior to picking this one up but I'd recommend to read them in order

There are books we enjoy reading, and then there are books which fill us with the immediate conviction that they will still be read in decades and beyond. That future generations will read them not only for the wonderful pieces of art they are, but also for what they will tell them about these times we are currently living in. It takes an incredible amount of shrewdness to be able to take a step back like Ali Smith does in her Seasonal Quartet, writing four political novels in real time. And it takes the gifts of a poet to make them so timelessly beautiful. Spring the novel, just like spring the season, is filled with mixed feelings: beguilingly warm at times, surprisingly cold at others, and always imbued with the hope of a glorious summer to come.