In this marvelous novel a troubled British family vacationing outside London in the summer has their lives invaded by a young woman each thinks has been invited by someone else in the family. Smith’s inventive use of form to relate a simple plot is the brilliance in this novel. With multiple points of view and various formats such as Q&A, the story unfolds piecemeal, creating mystery where it is required, offering implication much more powerful than blunt statement. A compelling meditation on knowledge, truth and consequence and an example of why how we tell a story is more important than the story we tell.
