Girl Meets Boy - (Canons) by Ali Smith (Paperback)

About the Book

A bold and joyous retelling from Ovid's Metamorphoses by the award-winning, bestselling author of How to be Both

Book Synopsis

Girl meets boy. It's a story as old as time. But what happens when an old story meets a brand new set of circumstances?

Ali Smith's remix of Ovid's most joyful metamorphosis is a story about the kind of fluidity that can't be bottled and sold. It is about girls and boys, girls and girls, love and transformation, a story of puns and doubles, reversals and revelations. Funny and fresh, poetic and political, here is a tale of change for the modern world.

The Myths series brings together some of the world's finest writers, each of whom has retold a myth in a contemporary and memorable way. Authors in the series include Karen Armstrong, Margaret Atwood, A.S. Byatt, David Grossman, Natsuo Kirino, Alexander McCall Smith, Philip Pullman, Ali Smith and Jeanette Winterson.

Review Quotes

Girl Meets Boy pulls you in and doesn't let you go . . . bold and brilliant--JACKIE KAY

[A] whimsical spin on the myth of Iphis and Ianthe . . . mischief, enchantment and impish wit . . . [Smith's] dancing prose and nimble storytelling are palpable hits-- "Sunday Times"

A glorious wide-awake dream of a book . . . My heart was beating and tears stood in my eyes, even as I had the biggest smile written all over my face--KIRSTY GUNN "Observer"

A joyful and playful remix . . . The result is an ecstatic, exhilarating helter-skelter ride of a story which shows just how relevant Ovid's myth of the transformative power of love is to modern readers-- "Financial Times"

Clever, complex and thrilling-- "TLS"

Exuberant . . . Slender, sweet natured and lyrical-- "Guardian"

In this modern-day reinterpretation, Ali Smith, with humour and typical linguistic versatility, explores issues of homophobia, corporate and social responsibility and the sheer vertiginous feeling of falling in love-- "Independent on Sunday"

Joyful--JEANETTE WINTERSON "The Times"

Poetic . . . Smith remembers what the ancients knew: that musical words drum a beat through to understanding-- "The Times"

Those familiar with Smith's playfully inventive fiction will not be disappointed by this light-as-air retelling of Ovid's tale . . . this jolly jeu d'esprit wears its heart defiantly on its sleeve-- "The Times"

About the Author

Ali Smith was born in Inverness in 1962. She is the author of numerous novels and short story collections including Hotel World, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Orange Prize, The Accidental, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker and the Orange Prize and How to be Both which won the Baileys Prize, the Goldsmiths Prize and the Costa Novel Award and was shortlisted for the Man Booker and the Folio Prize. In 2017, Autumn, the first book in the Seasonal Quartet, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. She lives in Cambridge.