Companion Piece (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780593316375)

"A woman receives an unexpected call from a former classmate asking for help deciphering a puzzling interaction, and from there, Smith spins out a broader story about loneliness, refuge and freedom." --The New York Times Book Review

"Lyrical and timely...Smith's novel will push readers to consider what it means to let people into your life, even when you don't want to." --TIME

A story is never an answer. A story is always a question.

A day spent locked in a room by border officials without any explanation as to why. A riddle that seemingly has no answer: curlew or curfew, you choose. A phone call from a college friend who hasn't been in touch in years. And all of it is somehow inextricably linked to the life of a young blacksmith hounded from her trade and branded a vagrant nearly 500 years ago.

Award-winning author Ali Smith shines a guiding light through the nightmarish now with a provocative novel that intertwines our atomized present and the uncannily parallel era of the Black Plague. In the hope that our medieval past may unlock the answers we seek to understand our hazy future, Companion Piece is a kaleidoscope of human history and experience, and a stunning addition to Smith's gorgeous canon.

Author: Ali Smith
ISBN-10: 0593316371
ISBN-13: 9780593316375
Publisher: Pantheon Books
Language: English
Published: 05/03/2022
Pages: 240
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.84lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.40w x 1.10d

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 12/01/2021 pg. 7
Kirkus Reviews 04/01/2022
Booklist 04/15/2022 pg. 16
Publishers Weekly 05/02/2022
Library Journal 06/03/2022 pg. 1