Hope springs eternal
Spring, by Ali Smith
by Liz Treacher, Author
Ali Smith was born in Inverness and her writing is still profoundly influenced by Scotland. In her latest novel, the plot culminates at present day Culloden and the giant Tesco in Inverness!
Spring (Hamish Hamilton, 2019) is the third in Smith’s quartet of novels named after the four seasons. The last, Summer, is due to be published in July. The novels are stand alone, and can be read singly and in any order, yet some characters and connections appear in more than one book, weaving a rich texture of story and characterisation.
The plot follows three people: Richard, a disillusioned film director mourning the death of his scriptwriter; Brit, a young woman working as a security guard at a UK Immigration Removal centre, and Florence, a twelve-year-old schoolgirl who can make herself invisible. As the story progresses, these three parallel lives start to converge in a way that changes them for ever.
When it comes to writing character, Ali Smith is like a plate-spinner. She spends a while fleshing out the director, Richard, then leaves him spinning and moves on to Brit, the security guard, and finally young Florence; returning to Richard and spinning him again before dashing back to the others, until all three are whizzing round like shiny tops! When they all finally collide at Kingussie train station and head north together towards Culloden, the tension heightens, and the story explodes into a moving ending.
There are nods to other writers, particularly Rilke and Katherine Mansfield, but the novel is mainly an exploration of Britain today. Luckily there appears to be hope.
Liz Treacher is a writer and teacher based in Dornoch. Her two romantic comedies (The Wrong Envelope and The Wrong Direction) are set in 1920 and tell the story of an impetuous artist and his determined post lady. Both titles are available to buy as paperbacks from the Dornoch bookshop, or ebooks on Amazon.
