The Accidental is Ali Smith`s dazzling novel about a family holiday & a stranger who upends it. Arresting & 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 & 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 & the power of storytelling. ”A beguiling page-turner.. .a brilliant creation. To read The Accidental is to be excited from first to last”. (Independent). ” Joyous, a shot across the bows...writing as rapture, as giddy delight”. (The Times). ” Brilliant & engaging, frequently hilarious... Smith makes one look at the world afresh”. (Sunday Telegraph).