Gliff, Ali Smith

I knew almost nothing about this before listening to the audiobook (the narrator is perfect), which meant that I could fully experience the gradual build-up of horror. It’s a terrifying book, all too true to our historical moment. But it’s made bearable by Smith’s trademark delight in language, and by something that is not hope so much as a belief that there is something good in humans that perseveres, even when it does not survive.