In this third novel in her seasonal series, after the Man Booker Prize finalist Autumn and the Orwell Prize finalist Winter, Scottish author Ali Smith again reflects a work of Shakespeare—this time Pericles—in a tale of Britain today, which was itself nominated for the Orwell Prize. What is it that ties Shakespeare with Katherine Mansfield, Charlie Chaplin, Rilke, Beethoven, Brexit, the present, the past, the north, the south, the east and west, a man mourning lost times, and a woman trapped in modern times? It is spring itself, and Smith tells an impossible tale of our impossible times, wondering if our penchant for changing nature will change the very nature of story.