Gliff von Smith, Ali

Set in the present day, Gliff begins when a young woman inherits a suitcase from her late grandmother, with no information other than the word "GLIFF" on a tag. Unsure whether it's someone's name or a description of the contents, she opens it and finds a thin piece of glued parchment: a mixture of worn, waxy fabric and a dry, brittle substance she can't identify. "Ali Smith's miraculous Gliff is both a bleak vision of an authoritarian future and a tender, hilarious, and ultimately inspiring portrait of two young siblings struggling to escape it. [...] A ray of hope after a year like this."