Why are books so very powerful? What do the books we've read over our lives - our own personal libraries - make of us? What does the unravelling of our tradition of public libraries, so hard-won but now in jeopardy, say about us? This is about what we do with books and what they do with us: how they travel with us; how they shock us, and more.

A richly inventive collection of stories about our enduring love of books from the Booker Prize-shortlisted, Women's Prize-winning author of How to be both and the critically acclaimed Seasonal quartet

'Smith is dazzling in her daring. Sheer inventive power' Observer

Why are books so powerful?
What do the books we read make of us?
And what does the vanishing of public libraries say about us?

These stories are about what we do with books and what they do with us: how they travel with us; how they shock us, change us, challenge us, banish time while making us older, wiser and ageless all at once; how they remind us to pay attention to the world we make.

Public libraries are places of joy, freedom, community and discovery - and they are under threat from funding cuts and widespread closures across the UK and further afield. With this brilliantly inventive collection, Ali Smith raises her voice in defence of our public libraries, celebrating their essential place in our culture and history.

*****

'Ali Smith is a one-off. Her imagination and originality make her one of the most exciting novelists of her generation' Daily Express

'In Ali Smith we have a writer whose dazzling sophistication will surely be celebrated, studied and argues over hundreds of years after we're gone' Scotsman

'Smith's world is incredibly generous - it's a place where all sorts of stories and human connections are possible' Metro