Finding real joy in my reading at the moment. This book ‘Autumn’ by Ali Smith has been on my ‘to read’ book list for a while. Seduced by the beautiful front cover featuring art work by David Hockney.
Set in the year following the Brexit referendum, it has some painfully accurate descriptions of life in Modern Day Britain. I loved the scenes in the post office. We’ve all been there. Moving between 2016 and 1984 it tells the story of the friendship between a girl and a much older man. And the story of a hundred other things besides. Including the artist Pauline Boty, a largely unknown female Pop Artist in the 60’s, who is now seen as a pioneer of her time and was recently featured in the @toast podcast.
The older man Daniel is unofficial babysitter to the young Elisabeth and imparts such a fabulous alternative world view on her, which will shape her forever “If you’re telling a story, always give your characters the same benefit of the doubt you’d welcome when it comes to yourself. The necessary benefit of the doubt, Daniel said. And always give them a choice....by which I mean characters who seem to have no choice at all. Always give them a home.” Excerpt from Autumn by Ali Smith.
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