Girl Meets Boy

Last updated

Girl Meets Boy
GirlMeetsBoy.jpg
First edition
with quote from Joyce Carol Oates
Author Ali Smith
Cover artist Tracey Emin
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Canongate Books
Publication date
1 Nov 2007
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint & eBook
Pages164
ISBN 1-84767-264-7

Girl Meets Boy is a 2007 novel by Scottish author Ali Smith and published by Canongate in the Canongate Myth Series. It was one of the "best books of 2007" according to critics at The Independent . [1]

Contents

Plot

A modern-day reinterpretation of Ovid's myth of Iphis, [2] it concerns two sisters, Anthea and Imogen (Midge) living in Inverness. Imogen works in the marketing department of a large company producing bottled water, Anthea is on work experience in the same department but then falls in love with Robin, a genderqueer environmental activist. It also vividly portrays her sister Imogen and her joyful emergence from low self-esteem.

Cover drawing

The cover drawing on the first edition is by Tracey Emin and entitled Self-portrait as a Small Bird.

Reception

Upon release, Girl Meets Boy was generally well-received. Globally, Complete Review saying on the consensus "Not quite a consensus, but many quite taken by it". [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joanne Harris</span> English-French author (born 1964)

Joanne Michèle Sylvie Harris is an English-French author, best known for her 1999 novel Chocolat, which was adapted into a film of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthea Turner</span> English television presenter

Anthea Turner is an English television presenter. She was a host of Blue Peter from 1992 until 1994, and of GMTV from 1994 until 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgia Byng</span> British childrens writer (born 1965)

Lady Georgia Mary Caroline Byng is a British children's writer, educator, illustrator, actress and film producer. Since 1995, she has published thirteen children's books, and co-written and co-produced one film. Byng has won the Stockton Children's Book Award, the Sheffield Children's Book Award, the Massachusetts Children's Book Award, the Salford Children's Book Award and the Best Kid's Film at the Peace And Love Festival, Sweden. Most of Byng's books are magical realism adventures, with protagonists who overcome self-doubt and become self-empowered. The themes are often bullying and its darkness, kindness and its light, friendship and its warmth, and the power of the mind.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Oyeyemi</span> British novelist and playwright

Helen Oyeyemi FRSL is a British novelist and writer of short stories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Smith</span> English novelist, journalist and human rights activist

Joan Alison Smith is an English journalist, novelist, who is a former chair of the Writers in Prison committee in the English section of International PEN and was the Executive Director of Hacked Off.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Brookmyre</span> Scottish novelist

Christopher Brookmyre is a Scottish novelist whose novels, generally in a crime or police procedural frame, mix comedy, politics, social comment and action with a strong narrative. He has been referred to as a Tartan Noir author. His debut novel was Quite Ugly One Morning; subsequent works have included All Fun and Games Until Somebody Loses an Eye (2005), Black Widow (2016) and Bedlam (2013), which was written in parallel with the development of a first-person shooter videogame, also called Bedlam. He also writes historical fiction with his wife, Dr Marisa Haetzman, under the pseudonym Ambrose Parry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ali Smith</span> Scottish author and journalist (born 1962)

Ali Smith CBE FRSL is a Scottish author, playwright, academic and journalist. Sebastian Barry described her in 2016 as "Scotland's Nobel laureate-in-waiting".

<i>The Penelopiad</i> 2005 novella by Margaret Atwood

The Penelopiad is a novella by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. It was published in 2005 as part of the first set of books in the Canongate Myth Series where contemporary authors rewrite ancient myths. In The Penelopiad, Penelope reminisces on the events of the Odyssey, life in Hades, Odysseus, Helen of Troy, and her relationships with her parents. A Greek chorus of the twelve maids, who Odysseus believed were disloyal and whom Telemachus hanged, interrupt Penelope's narrative to express their view on events. The maids' interludes use a new genre each time, including a jump-rope rhyme, a lament, an idyll, a ballad, a lecture, a court trial and several types of songs.

Canongate Books is an independent publishing firm based in Edinburgh, Scotland.

William James Smith is an English stand-up comedian, screenwriter, novelist, actor and producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imogen Poots</span> British actress (born 1989)

Imogen Gay Poots is an English actress. She played Tammy in the post-apocalyptic horror film 28 Weeks Later (2007), Linda Keith in the Jimi Hendrix biopic Jimi: All Is by My Side (2013), Debbie Raymond in the Paul Raymond biopic The Look of Love (2013), and Julia Maddon in the American action film Need for Speed (2014). Also in 2014, she portrayed Jesse Crichton in A Long Way Down, alongside Pierce Brosnan and Aaron Paul and Izzie in Peter Bogdanovich's She's Funny That Way. In 2016, she starred as Kelly Ann in the Showtime series Roadies. In 2019, she co-starred with Jesse Eisenberg in the films Vivarium and The Art of Self-Defense. In 2020, she played Laura in The Father (2020). In 2022, she began playing the role of the mysterious Autumn in the Prime Video science fiction neo-Western series Outer Range.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maggie Alderson</span> British author, magazine editor and fashion journalist

Maggie Alderson is a British author, magazine editor and fashion journalist. She is the former editor of ES, the Evening Standard magazine and British Elle magazines. In Australia, she was acting editor of Cleo and editor of Mode.

The Canongate Myth Series is a series of novellas published by the independent Scottish publisher Canongate Books, in which ancient myths from various cultures are reimagined and rewritten. The project was conceived in 1999 by Jamie Byng, owner of Canongate, and the first three titles in the series were published on 21 October 2005. Though the initial novellas received mixed-to-positive reviews, the project was heralded by many in the press as "bold" and "ambitious", with the tabloid Metro calling it "one of the most ambitious acts of mass storytelling in recent years".

<i>Hotel World</i> Novel by Ali Smith

Hotel World is a 2001 novel written by Ali Smith, published by Hamish Hamilton. It won both the Scottish Arts Council Book Award (2001) and the Encore Award (2002).

Lucy Caldwell is a Northern Irish playwright and novelist. She was the winner of the 2021 BBC National Short Story Award and of the 2023 Walter Scott Prize.

James Edmund Byng is a British publisher. He works for the independent publishing firm Canongate Books, where he is the CEO and publisher.

<i>The First Person and Other Stories</i> 2008 short story collection by Ali Smith

The First Person and Other Stories is a short story collection by Scottish Booker-shortlisted author Ali Smith, first published in 2008.

<i>There But For The</i> 2011 novel by Ali Smith

There But For The is a 2011 novel by Scottish author Ali Smith, first published in the UK by Hamish Hamilton and in the US by Pantheon, and set in 2009 and 2010 in Greenwich, London. It was cited by both The Guardian book review and the Publishers Weekly as one of the best books of the year. and was also longlisted for the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction.

<i>How to Be Both</i> 2014 novel by Ali Smith

How to Be Both is a 2014 novel by Scottish author Ali Smith, first published by Hamish Hamilton. It was shortlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize and the 2015 Folio Prize. It won the 2014 Goldsmiths Prize, the Novel Award in the 2014 Costa Book Awards and the 2015 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction.

<i>Vivarium</i> (film) 2019 film by Lorcan Finnegan

Vivarium is a 2019 science fiction psychological thriller film directed by Lorcan Finnegan, from a story by Finnegan and Garret Shanley. An international co-production between Ireland, Denmark, and Belgium, it stars Imogen Poots, Jesse Eisenberg, Jonathan Aris, and Éanna Hardwicke.

References

  1. "The best books of 2007". Independent.co.uk . 30 December 2007. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  2. "Girl Meets Boy, by Ali Smith". Independent.co.uk . 28 October 2007. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  3. "Girl Meets Boy". Complete Review. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2023.