Ali Smith’s prose alone renders her work unmissable, but this hybrid work's conceit and form are just as worthwhile. Artful is structured around a series of lectures on art and literature written by the narrator’s deceased partner. As she goes through the lectures—which are fascinating on their own merit—the narrator speaks to her partner and experiences strange visitations from her ghost. The haunting carries little horror, based instead in love and grief, and the book is a beautiful treatise on our relationships with art and those we’ve lost.