The Accidental

For the band of the same name, see The Accidental (band).

The Accidental
First edition cover
AuthorAli Smith
LanguageEnglish
GenrePostmodern fiction
PublisherHamish Hamilton
Publication date
2005
Media typePrint
Pages320
ISBN978-1-84505-824-1
OCLC224398028
823.92

The Accidental is a 2005 novel by Scottish author Ali Smith.[1] It follows a middle-class English family who are visited by an uninvited guest, Amber, while they are on holiday in a small village in Norfolk. Amber's arrival has a profound effect on all the family members. Eventually she is cast out the house by the mother, Eve. But the consequences of her appearance continue even after the family has returned home to London.

The novel was received positively by critics. Jennifer Reese of the American magazine Entertainment Weekly praised the book, writing that "while The Accidental does not add up to much more than a clever stunt, Smith pulls it off with terrific pizzazz."[2] The novel was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, the Man Booker Prize and James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and it won the Whitbread Award.[1][3][4][5]

  1. ^ a b Smith, Ali (2005). The Accidental. ISBN 978-0-241-14190-8. Retrieved 19 April 2008. The Accidental.
  2. ^ Reese, Jennifer (6 January 2006). "The Accidental (2006)". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 15 April 2007. Retrieved 19 April 2008.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference BostonGlobe was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference SFChronicle was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference AliSmithbio was invoked but never defined (see the help page).