There but for the
Edition: First United States Edition
Publisher: Pantheon Books
Published: 2011
Place of publication: New York, USA
Language: eng
Format: Epub
Number of pages: 256
ISBN-13: 9780307379986
Copyright date: 2011
Description: When a dinner-party guest named Miles locks himself in an upstairs room and refuses to come out, he sets off a media frenzy. He also sets in motion a mesmerizing puzzle of a novel, one that harnesses acrobatic verbal playfulness to a truly affecting story.
 
Miles communicates only by cryptic notes slipped under the door. We see him through the eyes of four people who barely know him, ranging from a precocious child to a confused elderly woman. But while the characters’ wit and wordplay soar, their story remains profoundly grounded. As it probes our paradoxical need for both separation and true connection, There but for the balances cleverness with compassion, the surreal with the deeply, movingly real, in a way that only Ali Smith can.
Source: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/168751/there-but-for-the-by-ali-smith/9780307379986