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Artful is a 2012 novel by Scottish author Ali Smith, published by Penguin Books. It won the inaugural Goldsmiths Prize in 2013.

Plot summary
This book is based on four lectures on European comparative literature given by Smith at Oxford University. The four chapter titles are ‘On Time,’ ‘On Form’, ‘On Edge’ and ‘On Offer’ and ‘On Reflection.’

It has two fictional characters. One is a woman mourning her dead lover and the other is her dead lover who still seems to be around. She speaks to the mourning woman in Greek, steals belongings and causes a nuisance. The dead woman was working on some lectures when she died, and the living one works with trees.

Smith explores different artists throughout the book, such as the surrealists. She also uses Shakespearian intertext.

Critical reception
'smart, allusive, informal, playful, audacious' – The Independent

'a seductive and compelling case for the power of imagination' – The Guardian