GLIFF ended up being my favorite book of the year, so I have attached here the few sentences I wrote on it for my bookshop’s social media, praising the book:

“Not only am I a huge fan of Ali Smith’s works in general, but I chose Gliff as my top pick this year because it genuinely blew me away. With her stunning writing style and sharp wit, all within her eeriely real dystopian setting, this book is the perfect package. Needless to say, I am on the edge of my seat for what she is going to publish in the follow-up next year.”

Gliff is a lyrical dystopian tale, tracing the outlines of Briar and Rose's life in a tense and threatening world of unspoken danger and ostracisation. Smith has a stunning way with words, and weaves a stunning tapestry of a world seemingly effortlessly, a lot of the prose being speech or thought, somehow she let's the reader know just enough to understand the sadness of Briar's life, both at present and in the past where he keeps flashing back to his youth, without having to explain anything outright.

I'm impatient and often find novels like this frustrating, the lack of detail and closure, but this one didn't affect me as much. Whilst I wanted to know the full story behind the Supera Bounders and more details of Briar's occupation, it was necessary for this story and i enjoyed the lack of answers.

Abandoned by their guardians and left to fend for themselves, siblings Briar and Rose stumble across Gliff, a horse, guarded by a young man who introduces them to the world they seem to be living on the outskirts of. Determined to protect Gliff from the abbatoir no matter the consequences, Rose unknowingly initiates a series of events which will change their lives. There's a lot more to this than plot, I highly recommend. For fans of I Who Have Never Known Men and Sophie Mackintosh.

What gliff means:
a short moment. A momentary resemblance. A sudden or chance view. A transient glance. A sudden fright. A faint trace or suggestion. An inkling. A wink of sleep. A slight attack or touch of illness. A whiff. A puff. A sudden perceptible smell. A sudden passing sensation either of pain or of pleasure. A scare. A shock. A thrill. A sudden violent blow. A wallop. A nonsense word. A misspelling for glyph. A substitute word for any word...

This week I was at Foyles for an event celebrating the Weatherglass Novella Prize, which Ali Smith judged. At one point during the event she expressed her horror of blurbs on books which inevitably, to sell the book, have to tell you something about the story and the setting. In her view the reader should enter a book relatively blind other than the information the author has chosen to give them (cover, title, epigraphs) and puzzle out what the book is about for themselves.

And pre-publication adverts for signed copies of Gliff from booksellers all come with this description of Gliff, and the companion novel Glyph due in 2025:

The two books will form a new step in Ali’s writing journey, different in form and feeling from the Seasonal Quartet (plus Companion piece) and will look very different too. Ali always keeps her novels under wraps until they are finished, and the surprise of reading a book only when it is complete, knowing almost nothing of its content, is part of the magic.

So, reading an Advanced Review Copy of the novel as I did, courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley, I won't spoil the magic - and simply say - it is indeed both different and truly magical. And yet I suspect the real surprises of this novel (and a 5th star) will only emerge, even to the author, once Glyph is published.

This book mixes Ali Smith's unique literary voice with a story that feels intimate and personal. It has a lot to say about its world of the near future. But also, what it means to exist at all - to each other, to yourself, to the systems around you. It's got a dystopian undercurrent, while also being a familiar story of kids left to fend for themselves. Really interesting, I can't wait to see what Glyph adds to it.

As a huge fan of Ali Smith, in some ways it should not surprise me that I adore this novel. However, I think it also marks a darker and more apocalyptic stride in her work, dealing with a dystopian government and concerning themes of state control and (waning) privacy.

However, it is Ali Smith's humour, playfulness and incredible inventiveness that allows this book to not only come up for air, but also act as a hopeful and triumphant response to the world around us.

Her newest novel is maybe a little bit more dystopian and speculative than Ali Smith usually writes and I loved it. Set in the near future, Gliff’s about all of the ways you can be a person. Or a horse. “I am all my me's, she said. I am complete.”

A book that's hard to describe and I'm not sure I understood but I absolutely loved it. The parts told through a child's perspective were moving, and I loved the descriptions of the sibling relationship. Other parts were scarily close to our current world whilst being dystopian which is very skillful. My only minor disappointment is it doesn't quite end as there's a sequel but at the same time I'm glad there's more.

One of those reads that's impossible to pin down - it changes in an instant, seemingly morphing at will between forms depending on it's, and the reader's, mood, just like the word gliff changes depending on context. Is it political? Yes (especially when read against the backdrop of both the UK's and USA's recent elections). It is dystopian? Also yes, how can it not be given the not-quite our world, yet not-quite not our world setting of unverified people, borders (that can seemingly change overnight), children left to survive in a world they don't yet understand. But it's also strangely hopeful, intriguing, gripping, unsettling and oddly comforting at the same time, and a book that left me wondering what comes next, both from Ali Smith, and the world in general.

Whilst reading this book I have been trying to figure out who the characters are and what the plot line is, as you do with any book that you read that’s the general idea. But this book perplexes me, it’s not until you’re quite far down in the book that you know the name of the characters except the main brother who is called Leif. He has two little sisters, whom he has left alone in some house, to go and fetch their mother from her place of work. The name of the elder sister Briar along with her younger sister who is revealed as Rose, but both not until page 60. I didn’t even know which country they’re in until page 48, and that’s just a guess I have made, although I could well be wrong! I don’t even know what time it is based on, whether it’s in the future, the past or the present. On top of that there are no speech marks for you to discern who is speaking and about what. In some of the places, they just ramble on in a nonsensical manner. There are even some chapters which could quite frankly have been left out because they don’t actually add to the story, and just ramble on, in an inconsequential way.


Briar accidentally intercepts a protest being held by 79 year old elderly lady named Oona, over a patch of land, and that’s where their names are revealed while talking to this lady. But, there is no reasoning behind this interaction. when she gets home, she can’t find Rose anywhere as she has who has gotten into the garden again, through the window, to pull up buttercups so she can feed the horses plain grass, as the buttercups apparently make them sick. She’s speaking to this boy who she calls Colon but it’s actually Callum who asks a lot of questions of them. During one interaction she asked if the horses have any names to which he says no except he calls one Gliffy for some reason. Rose names him Gliff and that’s where you get the title of the book, but that’s not until page 96 which, I feel is much too far down in the reading of the book.

I am going to concede defeat on this book, it beat me. I couldn’t finish it I just found it too hard to read. I enjoyed the short chapters but that was about it. The story had no basis. I didn’t know where it was going, and I’m not sure it knew where it was going either. I don’t think I would recommend this book to anyone but those avid readers of Ali Smith will probably like it.

With thanks to the author, publisher and netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Gliff is a challenging piece of writing, demanding that you read with both care and imagination. It would be too easy and glib to describe it as dystopian. It is an absolute warning about the way in which society is coming to rely upon IT and AI to manage and control people.

It explores the situation where incomprehensible choices about who is acceptable and who is not, are made by a higher power and then communicated as absolutes.

It shows the damage done when some people become viewed as expendable and worthless, unworthy of care or respect.

However it ends on a moment of hope, escape and rebellion.

As ever, Ali Smith demands a great deal of her reader and rewards them richly with challenging ideas

This book felt special to me from the moment I started reading it. I have a soft spot for novels which take the perspective of a young person trying to navigate the world; there is something very moving about considering the world’s injustices from the eyes of an innocent observer. It is the juxtaposition of the protagonist’s youthful ignorance and the tragic reality of the dystopian setting that made this book such an engaging read.

“I sat and thought of more and more things to do and ways to do them. The things and ways spread out round me like the nets trapeze artists up in the roofs of circus tents had beneath the tightropes and trapezes in case they fell.”

In Gliff, we follow the story of Briar (they/them), a young person navigating a confusing and oppressive world which seeks to control them and their family. Briar is left responsible for the survival of theirself and their younger sister, Rose, a bold, inquisitive, and kind hearted girl who readers can’t help but fall in love with.

“Loads of them say that stuff about girls, the ones that are most threatened by girls do. Some of the boys and men think it makes them more superior to say that stuff. They hate to think something outside them can see them and maybe judge them. It’s not just men or boys, a lot of people are threatened by knowing that people who they think aren’t anything like them exist.”

Through Briar’s eyes, we learn of a dystopian world which feels just a stones throw away from our own reality. We root for the survival of Briar and their sister whilst grappling with the dangers of technological advancement, data sharing, and the hierarchical structures of our society.

“If only people paid more attention, she said, to what history tells us rather than all this endless congratulating ourselves for finding a new way to read it.”

I absolutely adored this novel, and my only criticism is that I wanted more. Personally, I would have loved a bit more world building; I wanted to know more about the factories, the voids, how it all came to be, whether the “normal” world was still carrying on elsewhere. That said, just living in that world from Briar’s perspective, without it being overly explained or justified, made it feel all the more real.

“The void is simultaneously the place where, for me, words first ceased to mean and where, for words, I first ceased to mean too.”

Thank you to Penguin General UK and Net Galley for providing me with the ARC of this novel.

I enjoyed this near-future dystopian novel about two children and a horse called Gliff, dealing with a world where you either have devices tracking your every move or you're an "unverifiable" exile from society.

The characters of Briar and Rose were very well drawn and I empathised strongly with their situation, sharing their incomprehension of the red lines appearing and people disappearing.

A recommended read.

It's so difficult to describe Ali Smith's work. Her stories are huge and transcendent things that benefit from each re-read to try and get to grips with the complexity of her thought an writing. Gliff marks a foray into something dystopia-adjacent as Bri and Rose, two young siblings, navigate a world where personal data and categorisation are everything. There's also fairy tale feel with these two solitary children face threats from authority and companionship from a range of marginalised characters, not least the titular Gliff, a horse destined for the abattoir. The themes that occupy the novel are familiar from Smith's earlier work, especially the groundbreaking Seasonal quartet (quintet?), climate crisis, displaced people, insidious technologies and regimes which makes the shift to dystopia seem like a natural, if subtle, progression. The writing is characteristically impeccable, full of wit and wonder and playfulness that makes complexity of thought and prose a delight. The weaving of these contemporary themes with fairy tale elements and Smith's lyrical, ballad-like prose sets Gliff up as a fable for our times., the knowledge that a linked novel is still to come leaves us waiting keenly for the next installment to shine a light on this one and allow it to be read again anew.

Ali Smith's "Gliff" serves as another fictional example of a dystopian UK where people are treated like products on an assembly line. "Gliff" is the first part of a duology that will be ended with second novel in the series, "Glyph". Smith's novel details a dystopia where human beings are at the mercy of a tyrannical government who uses technology as a weapon of oppression and acquiescence. Briar and Rose are siblings who have been abandoned by their on-the-run mother. They must fend for themselves as the government seeks to track them down for being unverifiables.

Smith's prose is languid and lush with a focus on the elliptical and dreamlike. There are brutal moments within the book, but Smith's writing is so beautiful that the reader can manage to read about severed limbs, violence, and a lack of humanity. As I write this, American Presidential candidate Donald Trump recently held a Nazi rally which consisted of endless racist, sexist, xenophobic and homophobic words and actions. Indeed, there are parts of this novel that feel as if Smith is speaking directly to this man and his hate-filled rhetoric and behaviour. There were also times in the novel where I felt Smith was relating the characters' plights to the destruction that is happening now to the Palestinians in the West Bank.

For me, the novel loses power a bit because the novel's characters often remain out of focus. It's difficult to sustain interest in characters whose motivations and feelings are often interrupted by a shift in narrative or a purposeful lack of clarity. Also, Rose is constantly questioning the meaning of what Briar and the other characters say. It's a narrative technique that wears out its welcome. I think the novel would have benefitted from a more precocious Rose than one who is constantly stymied by new vocabulary. While "Gliff" is immensely readable, I wish Smith had been able to give me more about the siblings and their world as Smith ultimately leaves me wanting more than I was given.

4.5 stars. Ali Smith’s latest, Gliff is a disquieting novel set in a dystopian near-future which is unnervingly familiar and one where our over-reliance on smartphones and screens takes us just a few steps further down a dark and troubling path.

Young siblings Briar/Bri (they/them)and Rose are abandoned by their family and left to fend for themselves in a deserted house by mum’s partner Leif, with a vague promise that he shall return.

I enjoyed the discourse between the siblings and there is the usual Smith trademark word-play to savour. The titular name of this novel (a Scottish/Northern word for a brief glimmer, shock or transient moment) is given by Rose to a horse she connects with in a field behind the house.

Rose is an endearing character who retains her childlike wonder and quest for meaning in a world attempting to render her and everything in it meaningless.

This is another clever read. Ali Smith champions the natural world, freedom of thought and originality, nomads, immigrants and all those who live on the outside of societal norms or resist the destruction of community. She grapples with pressing issues such as data harvesting and the idea that we are pinned down by labels which restrict our individuality and freedom of expression.

I found this book easier to follow than the seasonal quartet from a narrative perspective. Yet there’s plenty to savour. I think it might well be even better on a second reading.

All-in-all, I found this a really interesting if unsettling read and I look forward to reading Glyph when that too is released. With thanks to NetGalley, Penguin and Viking UK for the digital ARC for this review.

This is a lively story with lots of energy. Two siblings find themselves without their parents and finding their way in a disturbing dystopian environment. The mysterious people who are cancelling homes and restraining people are a too believable horror, contrasted beautifully with the innocence and inventiveness of the children. The story moves on to when the siblings are grown and separated, and we discover whether or not their innocence and bond survive. Short sharp and though-provoking.

An incredible author who I feel I could not do justice to either when reading in my own unintellectual way or when attempting to review afterwards. With a similar feel to their Seasonal Quarter, Smith has produced a masterpiece in dystopian social commentary which exemplifies today’s political and socioeconomic backdrop. Superb.
My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own unbiased opinion.

"Gliff" in Scots is "a glimpse" - and also many other things, the word for everything - and that's exactly what we get here. Two siblings are left to fend for themselves in a near-future dystopia. We don't know the mechanics of this system, only that they are outside of it and unsure what it all means. They acquire a horse, they meet a band of "unverifiables" that help them in a moment of need. This is a fairy tale of a book, where language is used to expand the world around them, not collapse it as The State wants - stories prevail, words are collected and turned over. There's a strong 1984 or Brave New World vibe but understood from a kid's perspective. They don't see all or understand all. What they do see is filtered through their limited frames of reference. None of it makes sense but their tie to one another. I'm eager to read the companion novel out next year to see what happens to these siblings in this cruel world.

Seeing all these other great reviews I think I’m too dumb for this book. Started out as an interesting dystopian story about two sisters trying to survive, got very weird and I didn’t know what was going on. The underlying message was about searching for meaning in life, and what makes you, you. But other than that I dunno what happened. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for this arc.

Gliff is an eerie near-future dystopian novel with a level of mystery on par with Kafka's The Castle.

The story follows siblings Briar and Rose who are forced to fend for themselves and make their own sense of the "brave new world" in order to survive. They share a close bond and the wordplay they engage in was one of my favourite features of the novel. Sadly, the siblings are torn apart and after an uncertain amount of time has passed, Briar has to piece together what happened to Rose.

In comparison to many of Smith's previous novels, Gliff is on the surface perhaps a more accessible work and I will enjoy re-reading to discover some of the more complex details which I have no doubt are lurking in the text but which I failed to spot in the first read.