The latest addition to my website is Ali Smith‘s The Accidental. This takes as its theme a partially dysfunctional family: mother, two children, father (second marriage) who are disrupted by the arrival of a stranger out of the blue who changes them all in various ways, both when she is there and after she has left, not necessarily for the better. The philandering stepfather, the mother, a writer, appropriating the lives of real people, the seventeen-year old son responsible for the death of a girl at his school and the twelve-year old who is bullied all confront their issues following the arrival of Amber. The idea is not original but Ali Smith, as always, carries out it very well, not going for the easy options and keeping us guessing.