
The Accidental
British novelist, born 1962. Won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2015 and the Costa Novel Award in 2005 and 2014.
The Accidental is a 2005 novel by Ali Smith. It won the Costa Novel Award in 2005.
In family saga
On 3 of the 17 lists it was eligible for.
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At a glance
- Author
- Ali Smith
- First published
- 2005
- Length
- 320 pages (UK paperback)
- Awards
- Booker Prize shortlist, 2005
- Costa Novel Award winner, 2005
- Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist, 2006
- Genre
- Literary fiction, Postmodern, Family saga
Is The Accidental worth reading?
3 of the 17 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them the Costa Novel Award and the Booker Prize.
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| Booker Prize (winners and shortlists) (Booker Prize Foundation, 2005) | Shortlist | See the list |
| Costa (Whitbread) Novel Award (winners and shortlists) (Costa, 2005) | Winner | See the list |
| Women's Prize for Fiction (winners and shortlists) (Women's Prize Trust, 2006) | Shortlist | See the list |
Best edition of The Accidental
The edition we link to is the Penguin paperback (2020), 320 pages.
- Publisher
- Penguin (paperback, 2020)
- Pages
- 320
- ISBN
- 9780241989111
How critics, prizes and readers rate The Accidental
Prize juries rate it most highly: it earned 58% of the points available on prize lists, against 0% on critics' lists and 0% on readers' and booksellers' lists.
Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work
Books like The Accidental
If you liked The Accidental, try How to Be Both, Autumn or Hotel World.



