by Ali Smith
First published 2022
Metal sculptor Sandy navigates a cryptic phone conversation with her hospitalized father during peak pandemic isolation. When he starts telling her an intricate centuries-old tale about a mysterious female courier, Sandy realizes the story isn't just random—it's a lifeline connecting past and present. As her father's health declines, the boundary between his narrative and her reality blurs, challenging everything she understands about storytelling, inheritance, and familial connection. The courier's historical journey begins to echo Sandy's own fragmented experience of lockdown, connection, and survival. Smith weaves a razor-sharp exploration of how stories transmit meaning across generations, even—and especially—when communication seems impossible.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, magical-realism, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: blurred-reality, family-secrets, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Early COVID-Lockdown England
Period: Early COVID-Lockdown England
240 pages · Hardcover · Pantheon
Content warnings: medical-trauma