Over six essays, Smith muses on her experiences and observations throughout the first half of 2020 - this is not about the pandemic itself, but people’s responses to it and to lockdown.

I really enjoyed this short collection of work - the writing is insightful and clever, presenting observations and self-reflections without prematurely trying to be analytical, which nobody has the distance for yet. The essays are deeply personal, and some of Smith’s experiences have a universal resonance - a sudden sense of community, the relativity of suffering, adjusting to a new normal - while some are more specific to the US (she lives there). My favourite piece was “Contempt as a Virus” - not only timely, but profoundly thought-provoking.