Editors Reads Verdict
The fastest major literary novel written in response to Brexit — Smith finished it months after the referendum. The urgency shows, but so does her formal intelligence. The Daniel and Elisabeth relationship is the novel's emotional core.
What We Loved
- The speed of composition is extraordinary — Smith wrote it in months, and the freshness of the response is palpable
- The Daniel and Elisabeth relationship across decades is genuine and moving
- The evocation of post-referendum Britain captures something that slower, more considered fiction might have missed
Minor Drawbacks
- The Brexit anger is occasionally too direct — some passages feel like editorialising rather than fiction
- The seasonal structure of the quartet is clearer in retrospect than in this first volume
Key Takeaways
- → Brexit revealed a division in British life that had been present before the vote and was not caused by it — the vote only made it undeniable
- → Friendship across generations — between the very young and the very old — produces a specific form of temporal consciousness
- → The pastoral tradition in English writing is a response to crisis rather than a retreat from it
| Author | Ali Smith |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Pantheon |
| Pages | 253 |
| Published | October 1, 2016 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literary Fiction |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Best For | Readers interested in literary responses to contemporary political events, and Ali Smith readers who want to follow the Seasonal Quartet. |
Post-Brexit
September 2016. The referendum was three months ago. Britain is sorting itself into two versions of itself — Leave and Remain — and the government is beginning to understand what it has set in motion. Elisabeth Demand, a lecturer in art history, visits Daniel Gluck, who is 101 and sleeping in a care home. He may be dying.
Smith’s novel moves between this present moment and the past: Elisabeth’s childhood, when Daniel was her neighbour and introduced her to the wider world through pop music, film, and books; their conversations across the years. Daniel, in his dreamlike state, also moves through his own past — a childhood in the 1930s, a life lived across the disruptions of the 20th century.
The Seasonal Project
Autumn is the first of Smith’s Seasonal Quartet, each novel written and published within months of the preceding season: Winter (2017), Spring (2019), Summer (2020). The project is unusual in contemporary fiction — a four-novel sequence written in near-real-time response to a specific political moment (Brexit and its aftermath).
The ambition is to capture something that more considered, retrospective fiction will miss: the texture of the confusion, the specific quality of the anger and grief, before it becomes historical distance. Autumn is the beginning of that project.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "Autumn" about?
Elisabeth Demand, a young woman, visits Daniel Gluck, her hundred-year-old neighbour, who is dreaming in a care home. The novel moves between their past friendship and the present moment — post-Brexit Britain, 2016, a country divided in ways it cannot articulate. The first of the Seasonal Quartet.
Who should read "Autumn"?
Readers interested in literary responses to contemporary political events, and Ali Smith readers who want to follow the Seasonal Quartet.
What are the key takeaways from "Autumn"?
Brexit revealed a division in British life that had been present before the vote and was not caused by it — the vote only made it undeniable Friendship across generations — between the very young and the very old — produces a specific form of temporal consciousness The pastoral tradition in English writing is a response to crisis rather than a retreat from it
Is "Autumn" worth reading?
The fastest major literary novel written in response to Brexit — Smith finished it months after the referendum. The urgency shows, but so does her formal intelligence. The Daniel and Elisabeth relationship is the novel's emotional core.
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