Gliff

A Novel

Author Ali Smith
$28.00 US
Knopf | Pantheon
12 per carton
On sale Feb 04, 2025 | 978-0-593-70156-0
Sales rights: US,OpnMkt(no EU/CAN)
A moving and genre-bending story about our era-spanning search for meaning and knowing

Set in the present day, Gliff begins when a young woman inherits a suitcase from her dead grandmother, with no information other than the word "GLIFF" on the luggage tag. Unsure whether it's someone's name or a description of the contents, she opens it to find a thin piece of collaged parchment—a mix of worn waxy fabric and a dry and brittle substance she can't place.
      From a Scottish word meaning a "transient moment" or "faint glimpse," Gliff explores how and why we endeavor to make a mark on the world. In a time when western industry wants to reduce us to algorithms and data—something easily categorizable and predictable—Smith shows us why our dimensionality matters more than ever.

About

A moving and genre-bending story about our era-spanning search for meaning and knowing

Set in the present day, Gliff begins when a young woman inherits a suitcase from her dead grandmother, with no information other than the word "GLIFF" on the luggage tag. Unsure whether it's someone's name or a description of the contents, she opens it to find a thin piece of collaged parchment—a mix of worn waxy fabric and a dry and brittle substance she can't place.
      From a Scottish word meaning a "transient moment" or "faint glimpse," Gliff explores how and why we endeavor to make a mark on the world. In a time when western industry wants to reduce us to algorithms and data—something easily categorizable and predictable—Smith shows us why our dimensionality matters more than ever.