The Accidental and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more

Buy New

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
Buy Used
Used - Very Good See details
Price: £2.76
Fulfilled by Amazon

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Colour:
Image not available

 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book
Start reading The Accidental on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

The Accidental (Penguin Ink) [Paperback]

Ali Smith (Author)
2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (105 customer reviews)
RRP: £10.00
Price: £9.10 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £0.90 (9%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Only 2 left in stock (more on the way).
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon. Gift-wrap available.
Want delivery by Monday, 20 May? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition £6.99   -- --
Hardcover --   -- --
Paperback £6.74   -- --
Paperback, 4 Aug 2011 £9.10   -- --
Audio, CD, Audiobook --   -- --
Books Trade-In
Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more.

Book Description

Publication Date: 4 Aug 2011 | Series: Penguin Ink

I was born in a trunk. It was during the matinée on Friday. I stopped the show.

Arresting and wonderful, The Accidental pans in on the Norfolk holiday home of the Smart family one hot summer. There, a beguiling stranger called Amber appears at the door bearing all sorts of unexpected gifts, trampling over family boundaries and sending each of the Smarts scurrying from the dark into the light.

A novel about the ways that seemingly chance encounters irrevocably transform our understanding of ourselves, The Accidental explores the nature of truth, the role of fate and the power of storytelling.

Frequently Bought Together

The Accidental (Penguin Ink) + Saturday
Price For Both: £15.39

Buy the selected items together
  • Saturday by Ian McEwan Paperback £6.29

Product details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin; PENGUIN INK edition (4 Aug 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0241954568
  • ISBN-13: 978-0241954560
  • Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 1.9 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (105 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 943,060 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Ali Smith Page
Ali Smith
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Product Description

Review

A beguiling page-turner ... a brilliant creation. To read The Accidental is to be excited from first to last (Independent )

Brilliant and engaging, frequently hilarious, exhilaratingly sharp-eyed . . . Smith makes one look at the world afresh (Sunday Telegraph )

Joyous, a shot across the bows . . . writing as rapture, as giddy delight (The Times )

An astonishing book - funny and moving, playful and shocking. It is what one hopes for in a modern novel, and yet it confounds all expectations. It is complex. It is beautiful. It is exhilarating. It is fiction at its most artful (Financial Times )

Smith's novels fizz with pyrotechnic prose, whirl-wind openings, bewitching invention (Observer )

Exuberantly inventive ... at once dazzlingly bright and profoundly dark (Sunday Times )

About the Author

Ali Smith was born in Inverness in 1962. She is the author of Free Love, Like, Other Stories and Other Stories, Hotel World, The Whole Story and Other Stories, The Accidental, The First Person and Other Stories and There but for the. She lives in Cambridge.
Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

› Explore similar items

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 34 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and misunderstood 29 Oct 2006
By Emily
Format:Paperback
I don't write that many Amazon reviews but given some of the negative ones for this book, I had to. Personally, I thought the book was absolutely brilliant and, as others have said, the change in narrative tone depends on who's doing the narrating. As for Michael, he was a fantastic comic figure, especially in his middle section, the one written in verse. I take my hat off to Ali Smith for being able to move between prose and poerty in that way, but for anyone who doesn't like poetry, you can read it just as prose. It works that way, too.

The reason for four rather than five stars is the slightly disappointing ending. Although we don't really need to know who Amber really is, the three passages about her do suggest there are clues to her identity and it would have been nice to know what that identity was. And while I had no problem with Eve in the States, the suggestion that she might be going to retsart the whole cycle was a little silly: the point about Amber was that she was totally unique.

This is clearly one of those novels, though, that people either love or hate and to be honest I can't imagine haiting it. It's frequently called pretentious, too, which I didn't think it was at all (and I loathe McEwan et al for their pretension.) I hope to read a good deal more of her work.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
34 of 38 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Genius or just trying too hard? 14 May 2006
By Beca
Format:Paperback
As the title of this review suggests, my feelings about this novel are complex and I don't think I can adequately answer the question I have posed myself. There are moments of pure genius within this text - pieces of narrative that literally sweep you up with their ingenuity. Smith certainly excels when utilising her own unique stream of consciousness style and this alone makes the book worth reading. I also found the structure satisfying, with the sense of full circle achieved at the end. What lets this text down is the occasional sense that it is just trying to be that little bit too clever, a little bit too self aware of its status as a story telling medium. Three stars may be a little harsh - three and a half more accurate. I would certainly recommend this to anyone who enjoys an author unafraid to play with the novel genre but prepare to feel a little disappointed. This feels like the work of an author on the way to greatness but not quite there yet.
1 Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Even better second time 31 Jan 2007
By Ms. I. Field-reid
Format:Paperback
I am wondering if all the negative reviews are partly because the reviewers are not from the UK- I think it is very evocative of a place and a time, and full of specific cultural values(white middle class,urban, academic). I found this book profoundly interesting and moving. I felt that all four family members who were so stuck at the start of the novel, developed and moved on by the end. Smith managed to create four entirely believable voices and at different points I felt sympathy for all of them.The various writing styles are sustained brilliantly and I felt that each character's story was equally strong. It felt very much a story of the UK now and the struggle for families to stay together and understand each other in the face of a difficult and depressing world. It definately warrants a second reading. As to whether Amber is real, a device or a ghost, she is an amazing force and stayed with me long after I finished the book.

It is not straightforward, or an easy read- you are made to think and puzzle and reflect- and a good think that is when most of the time we are not challenged by books, tv or film!
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?   Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars Difficult read
My reading group book so persevered but disliked the way the book was written. Contrived and pretentious in style. Just didn't enjoy this at all and nor did the rest of the group.
Published 7 days ago by Margaret Harwood
3.0 out of 5 stars A Joycean monologue
Or rather a series of monologues. The plot is sketchy to say the least but the storey of the banal Norfolk holiday of a London family of academics is not what this book is about. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Piers Rowlandson
2.0 out of 5 stars Not for me
Not what I was expecting at all...still not sure what the purpose of this book is!too hard to follow,chapter starts but not sure who the narrator is,takes while to get into... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Julie Mcloughlin
1.0 out of 5 stars can't believe I made it to the end
I have read books that I have really struggled with for 80ish pages and then LOVED, this was not one of them. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Poodlehorse
3.0 out of 5 stars A musical novel.
I thought the opening of this contained writing which was sharp in tone, and showed the author to have a very natural writing style. However, the end of it was a bit flat.
Published 11 months ago by Mr Boxplayer
3.0 out of 5 stars 'could it sometimes take an outsider to reveal to a family that it was...
I enjoyed the first 200 pages or so. A mysterious stranger, Amber, turns up at the holiday home of a deeply troubled- albeit ostensibly successful- family. Read more
Published 12 months ago by sally tarbox
4.0 out of 5 stars Haunting but Frustrating
This book is apparently inspired in part by a Pasolini film in which a young man arrives in a household and somehow seduces everyone, wreaking gentle havoc. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Kate Hopkins
1.0 out of 5 stars Whimsical and tedious
I usually enjoy this kind of book, but The Accidental failed to bring out any sympathy in me. The characters were poorly drawn and the plot constructed as if on a whim. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Edda
2.0 out of 5 stars Caveat emptor - beware of professional reviewers !!!
I am always very wary (and weary) when considering reading a book or buying an album praised to the heavens by the cogniscenti. Read more
Published 20 months ago by SMc
5.0 out of 5 stars Accidentally stumbling across entertainment
Ali Smith certainly doesn't need me to point out what seems to be happening,she has displayed a virtuoso level of walking a mile in someone elses moccasins when telling the story... Read more
Published 20 months ago by John Cutts
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

There's a problem loading this menu at the moment.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.

    Your Shopping Basket is empty.

    Give it purpose -- fill it with books, DVDs, clothes, electronics and more.

    If you already have an account, sign in.

    There's a problem previewing your shopping basket at the moment.

    Check your Internet connection and go to your cart, or try again.

    View Shopping Basket (0 items)

      Customer Discussions

      This product's forum
      Discussion Replies Latest Post
      No discussions yet

      Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
      Start a new discussion
      Topic:
      First post:
      Prompts for sign-in
       


      Active discussions in related forums
      Search Customer Discussions
      Search all Amazon discussions
         
      Related forums

      Listmania!

      Create a Listmania! list

      Look for similar items by category

      Feedback


      Amazon.co.uk Privacy Statement Amazon.co.uk Delivery Information Amazon.co.uk Returns & Exchanges