Ali Smith is such a humane and inventive writer, I’m utterly in awe of her. In this unusual story there’s only one character ‘on stage’ as it were, albeit a character who’s in conversation with her dead dad. There’s also is no plot as such, but there’s a richly imagined conversation in which the protagonist and her father consider history, memory and – as the title suggests – voice. There are song lyrics – from Gracie Fields to Culture Club – as well as snippets of poetry – and the story is a wonderful celebration of the human voice.
Published in Public Library and Other Stories, Penguin, 2015
A Personal Anthology 