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"What I do when it distresses me that there's something I can't remember, is. Are you listening?
Yes, Elisabeth said through the cyring.
I imagine whatever it is I've forgotten is folded close to me, like a sleeping bird.
What kind of bird? Elisabeth said.
A wild bird, Daniel said. Any kind. You know what kind when it happens. Then, what I do is, I just hold it there, without holding it too tight, and I let it sleep. And that's that."

I've never read Ali Smith before, and this really blew my mind - I love the lyrical language that is almost a mixture between fiction and poetry, I love how the textual structure resembles a collage, and I love how the text expands on so many themes without ever losing track of the single threads and ideas.

In their reviews, Paul and Neil did an excellent job summarizing the content and explaining what role the artist Pauline Boty and the 1963 Profumo Scandal play in the text, so I would like to take the liberty of referring to their analyses.

I would like to add that I really enjoyed how Smith uses the themes of memory and representation as an undercurrent throughout the whole text: There is an acute awareness that the past and the present are not only intertwined, but that both are created through stories, and that those stories paint a picture of reality just as Pauline Boty did with her collages.

"And whoever makes up the story makes up the world, Daniel said. So always try to welcome people into the home of your story. That's my suggestion."

Our stories about the world are not only a form of representation, but these "portraits in words" are a form of appropriation that shapes our reality, which, in turn, can be read by others. This is a key to the protagonists' memories and dreams, and it is also important when Smith writes about politics -Elisabeth's mother even ends up in jail when she uses memories turned into artefacts to challenge barriers (I cannot spoil this part of the novel, it is just too good).

Other examples for the themes of memory and representation would of course be Boty and Keeler, with Boty being dead and almost forgotten until Elisabeth, inspired by Daniel, digs into her work and biography.

Some readers from outside Europe have expressed that they feel like this novel is mainly concerned with current events in Britain, which somehow diminishes the text's relevance. As another European, I would like to contradict that notion, at least in part. Although the consequences of Brexit will affect Britain more and differently than the rest of Europe (especially young people who now fear to loose their Schengen privileges), Brexit is worrying and upsetting people throughout the continent. The EU is not only an economic structure, it is a supranational organization with roots in 1957, when countries who used to be enemies signed the Treaty of Rome which would turn out to be a crucial step towards the longest peace period in the history of the continent (at least between the EU member states; in 2012, the EU won the Nobel Peace Prize). When Britain decides to leave this union, what does this mean for the future of Europe? - that's the question that is scaring people and the dimension in which the Brexit discussion needs to be understood. How can we uphold the values on which the EU is based? In her book, Smith talks a lot about values and respect, and what she says is very relevant in today's EU (and in Trump's America, for that matter). My guess is that this book will personally affect many people, also outside Britain.

Regarding the question whether the book will stand the test of time, I am not sure whether I can answer it, but I think "Autumn" will remain a valuable and touching portrait depicting how many people felt at a certain point in time.