''Spring'' is a 2019 novel by

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

author

Ali Smith Ali Smith CBE FRSL (born 24 August 1962) is a Scottish author, playwright, academic and journalist. Sebastian Barry described her in 2016 as "Scotland's Nobel laureate-in-waiting". Early life and education Smith was born in Inverness on 24 A ...

, first published by

Hamish Hamilton Hamish Hamilton Limited is a publishing imprint and originally a British publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half- Scot half- American Jamie Hamilton (''Hamish'' is the vocative form of the Gaelic Seumas eaning James ''Jame ...

. It was longlisted for the

Orwell Prize The Orwell Prize is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity (Registered Charity No 1161563, formerly "The Orwell Prize") governed by a board of trustees. Four prizes are award ...

(2020).

Plot

Each novel in Smith’s seasonal series is juxtaposed with a work of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

– in this one, it is ''Pericles''. All of the books also examine everyday life in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

. ''Spring'' follows a string of characters and explores themes like immigration and human nature in general, as well as the aftermath of the EU referendum and growing tensions in the UK. The novel has two central narratives, the first is the story of Richard, an older man who is dealing with the loss of someone close to him. He boards a train to Scotland, with no particular destination in mind, to try and escape or solve his emotional turmoil. The second narrative is that of Brittany, or Brit as she is named in the book. Brit works at a detention centre for migrants where she unexpectedly meets a young girl named Florence. Like Richard, Brit and Florence also happen to board a train up north to

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. All of the characters in the novel eventually meet at Kingussie station.

Publication

''Spring'' was first published in hardback and e-book format in the United Kingdom on 28 March 2019 through

, an imprint of

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

. It was given a release in the United States via

Pantheon Books Pantheon Books is an American book publishing imprint. Founded in 1942 as an independent publishing house in New York City by Kurt and Helen Wolff, it specialized in introducing progressive European works to American readers. In 1961, it was ...

on 28 March 2019, also in hardback and e-book format. The novel received a paperback release in the United Kingdom on 12 March 2020 via Penguin and in the United States on 7 April 2020, through

Anchor Press Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint (trade name), imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was acquired by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1 ...

. ''Spring'' also received an audiobook adaptation narrated by Juliette Burton that was published by Recorded Books.

Reception

''Spring'' received reviews from multiple outlets. According to

Book Marks ''Literary Hub'' or ''LitHub'' is a daily literary website that was launched in 2015 by Grove Atlantic president and publisher Morgan Entrekin, American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame editor Terry McDonell, and '' Electric Literatur ...

, the book received "positive" reviews based on twenty-one critic reviews with eleven being "rave" and seven being "positive" and three being "mixed". In Books in the Media, a site that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a (3.84 out of 5) from the site which was based on twelve critic reviews. On Bookmarks July/August 2019 issue, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a (4.0 out of 5) based on critic reviews. Rebecca Makkai of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' compared the novel favorably to '' Ulysses'' while Justine Jordan of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' called it "a powerful vision of lost souls in a divided Britain". ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' also reviewed ''Spring'', writing that it was "a bold and brilliant experiment".

References

{{Ali Smith Novels by Ali Smith Pantheon Books books Hamish Hamilton books 2019 British novels Kingussie