'Gliff' - a Scots or Northern word for a glimpse, a shock, a glance - will not only tell its own story but also contain within it a hidden story, to be revealed only in a second novel, 'Glyph' - from the Greek, meaning a mark, carving or symbol - to be published a year later. In form and feeling, 'Gliff' will light a new, fabular and fabulist path for Ali Smith and for us through the gathering darkness of our chaotic times.