25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION INCLUDING A NEW PREFACE FROM THE AUTHOR SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION A masterful, exuberant novel from the author of How to be both and the critically acclaimed Seasonal Quartet Five people: four are living, three are strangers, two are sisters, one is dead. In her highly acclaimed and ambitious book, the brilliant Scottish writer Ali Smith brings alive five unforgettable characters and traces their intersecting lives. This is a short novel with big themes (time, chance, money, death) but an eye for tiny detail: the taste of dust, the weight of a few coins in the hand, the pleasurable pain of a stone in one's shoe . ***** 'As infectious as a pop song, the story bursts open from the very first page and demands to be read in one sitting' The Times ' Hotel World is essential reading from a major talent' Independent.