Greensmith

Penelope Greensmith is a bio-librarian, responsible for a vast seed bank made possible by the mysterious Vice she inherited from her father.

She lives a small, dedicated life until the day the mysterious and charming Horticulturalist arrives in her garden, asking to see her collection. He thinks it could hold the key to stopping a terrible plague sweeping the universe.

Soon Penelope is whisked away on an intergalactic adventure by the Horticulturalist, seeing the vast and bizarre mysteries amongst the stars.

But as this gentle woman searches for a way to save the universe, her daughter Lily is still on Earth, trying to track her down, trying to survive the terrible events unfolding there…

"Greensmith is a head-spinning, brain-expanding journey through the universe. Funny, and sometimes startlingly mournful, Greensmith proves that Aliya Whiteley is capable of producing stunning work in any genre."
– Tim Major, author of Snakeskins and Hope Island

“A brilliant mind altering, intergalactic delight. Brimming with humour and flair. Greensmith marks Aliya Whiteley's distinctive talents as something to get excited about.”;–Irenosen Okojie, award-winning author of Nudibranch, Butterfly Fish and Speak Gigantular;“One of the most poignant, elegiac and spiritual works of science fiction I have read all year.”;– Nina Allan, award-winning writer of The Race, The Rift, The Dollmaker and more;“an exuberant adventure across time and space, busting with questions of mortality and morality, identity and biology. Told with real heart and appealingly Phythonesque humour, this is a gloriously compact tardis of a book.”;– Vicki Jarrett, author of Always North;“Greensmith is a head-spinning, brain-expanding journey through the universe, alternating between wildly abstract concepts and meticulously detailed character studies. Funny, resolutely British and sometimes startlingly mournful, Greensmith proves that Aliya Whiteley is capable of producing stunning work in any genre.”;– Tim Major, author of Snakeskins and Hope Island;“Aliya Whiteley takes her singular voice to the cosmos in this madly imaginative, affecting and witty novel. Greensmith’s pages teem with life and wonder – it’s the best kind of mind-bender.”;– M.T. Hill, Author of Zero Bomb and The Breach;“A radiant, sensational samba across the stars and a paean to the wonders in the overlooked and the everyday… Penelope Greensmith will capture your heart”;– E.J. Swift, author of Paris Adrift and The Osiris Project trilogy;“Aliya Whiteley is one of the most imaginative science fiction writers of the twenty-first century. Everyone should be reading her.”;– Helen Marshall, author of The Migration and Gifts for the One Who Comes After;Greensmith is … a reminder of why, in any mode, Whiteley is an author worth picking up.;- Strange Horizons;[A] brilliant novel … Both a fantastically fun ride and a profound reflection on the failings of humanity. As such it is a thoroughly relevant and powerful example of how genre fiction can be thought-provoking and discomforting whilst still being engaging, fun and exciting.;- Fantasy Hive;A novel [with] freshness and unpredictability, a quick, page-turning book that takes the reader on an entertainingly wild ride.;- Storgy;Fresh and unpredictable. It’s sad but also funny, melancholic but fast-paced. Well worth a read.;- Fantasy Book Critic;Reading this tale was a reminder that the world around us is quite precious and also not here for long. Life doesn’t always follow an easy narrative and what we are told is right may not always be the case. The stories we tell ourselves are important but not always true. Greensmith however is beautiful, weird and in a strange way one that gave me peace and hope. Highly recommended.;- Runalong the Shelves;Clever yet lightly rendered … It is science fiction that focuses on the fun side of storytelling, with a hat tip to how astonishing our natural world is.;- Bookmunch;This is another terrific work of speculative fiction from one of the most creative, genre-bending writers working today.;- The Frumious Consortium;Mr B’s 2020 books of the year;Enjoyable from the first page to the last, this book is enthralling, baffling, weird, deep, quirky and in the end - I thought - very, very sad. In short, I'd recommend.;- Blue Book Balloon;The planets, the plants, the visions are all fantastic: flamingos and hive minds, intergalactic romps and mysterious elements, everything is entertaining;- GeekDad;;

Aliya Whiteley was born in Devon in 1974, and currently lives in Sussex with her husband, daughter and dog.

Aliya is the author of the critically acclaimed novellas, The Beauty, and The Arrival of Missives, which have been shortlisted for various awards including the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, Shirley Jackson Award, James Tiptree Jr Award, the British Fantasy Society Awards, British Science Fiction Association Award and the Saboteurs.

Her short stories and non-fiction and has been published in places such as The Guardian, Interzone, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Black Static, Strange Horizons, and anthologies such as Fox Spirit's European Monsters and Lonely Planet's Better than Fiction I and II. She has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize twice, and won the Drabblecast People's Choice Award in 2007.

She lives on the South Coast of the UK.

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