Zadie Smith

The chronicler of contemporary London, acclaimed and bestselling author Zadie Smith, returns with her first historical novel. The Fraud explores the themes of truth and fiction, Jamaica and Britain, and who gets to tell their story. In her first historical novel, Zadie Smith transports the reader to a Victorian England transfixed by the real-life trial of the Tichborne Claimant. In...

A stunning new reissue of one of the most iconic fictional debuts of all time, to mark the 25th anniversary of this modern classic. First published in the year 2000, Zadie Smith's White Teeth was one of the most celebrated novels of the new millennium. Adored by critics and readers alike, it remains a perennial bestseller, which still delights with...

The bestselling, Booker shortlisted novel by one of Britain's greatest living novelists, now a Penguin Essential. Why do we fall in love with the people we do? Why do we visit our mistakes on our children? What makes life truly beautiful? Set between New England and London, On Beauty concerns a pair of feuding families - the Belseys and the...

The Autograph Man is Zadie Smith's whirlwind tour of celebrity and our fame-obsessed times. Following one Alex-Li Tandem - a twenty-something, Chinese-Jewish autograph dealer turned on by sex, drugs and organised religion - it takes in London and New York, love and death, fathers and sons, as Alex tries to discover how a piece of paper can bring him closer...

An urgently timely, deeply personal and powerfully moving series of essays on the experience of lockdown from one of the most clear-sighted and essential writers of our time. There will be many books written about the year 2020—historical, analytic, political and comprehensive accounts. This is not any of those. Written in the first months of the coronavirus pandemic, as the...

The chronicler of contemporary London, acclaimed and bestselling author Zadie Smith, returns with her first historical novel. Kilburn, 1873. The 'Tichborne Trial' has captivated the widowed Scottish housekeeper Mrs Eliza Touchet and all of England. Readers are at odds over whether the defendant is who he claims to be—or an imposter. Mrs Touchet is a woman of many interests: literature,...

White Teeth by Zadie Smith is an astonishingly accomplished first novel, available as a Penguin Essential for the first time. Early in the morning, late in the century, Cricklewood Broadway… One of the most talked about first novels ever, White Teeth is a funny, generous, big-hearted novel, adored by critics and readers alike. It deals with friendship, love, war, three...

The bestselling, prize-winning, generation-defining Zadie Smith's new unmissable novel out in paperback. Dazzlingly energetic and deeply human, Swing Time is a story about friendship and music and true identity, how they shape us and how we can survive them. Moving from north-west London to West Africa, it is an exuberant dance to the music of time. Two brown girls dream...

An outstanding collection of wit, wisdom and writerly observation from one of Britain's most loved authors. How did George Eliot's love life affect her prose? Why did Kafka write at three in the morning? In what ways is Barack Obama like Eliza Doolittle? Can you be over-dressed for the Oscars? What is Italian Feminism? If Roland Barthes killed the Author,...

Dazzlingly insightful, explosively funny and ever-timely, Zadie Smith's second essay collection is unmissable. No subject is too fringe or too mainstream for Zadie Smith's insatiable curiosity. From social media to the environment, Tarantino to Jay-Z to Knausgaard, she has endless fascination and the boundless wit, insight and wisdom to match. In Feel Free, pop culture, high culture, social change and...

On Beauty by Zadie Smith is a funny, powerful, and moving story about love and family. Why do we fall in love with the people we do? Why do we visit our mistakes on our children? What makes life truly beautiful? Set mainly in New England and partly in London, On Beauty concerns a pair of feuding families - the...

The first ever collection of stories from the bestselling and beloved author of Swing Time and White Teeth. In the summer of 1959, an Antiguan immigrant in north-west London lives the last day of his life. A mother looks back on her early forays into matters of the human heart, considering the destructive nature of desire. A disgraced cop stands...

An illuminating new essay collection from one of the most distinctive, exciting and acclaimed writers of her generation, Zadie Smith. In this keenly awaited new collection, Zadie Smith brings her unique skills as an essayist to bear on a range of subjects which have captured her attention in recent years. She takes an exhilaratingly close look at artists Toyin Ojih...

Weirdo Goes Wild is a follow-up to the acclaimed Weirdo from three incredible talents. One of the Observer's Best Children's Books of 2024. A warm and endearing story about the quiet power of being yourself from Zadie Smith, Nick Laird, and Magenta Fox. Maud - a judo-suit wearing guinea pig and proud weirdo - is off into the wild, as...

Britain's favourite 21st-century literary author returns to her roots - London. Zadie Smith's brilliant tragi-comic NW follows four Londoners - Leah, Natalie, Felix, and Nathan - after they've left their childhood council estate, grown up, and moved on to different lives. From private houses to public parks, at work and at play, their city is brutal, beautiful, and complicated. Yet...

Most highly praised debut novel in recent years. One of the most talked about fictional debuts of recent years, White Teeth is a funny, generous, big-hearted novel, adored by critics and readers alike. Dealing - among many other things - with friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, one brown mouse, and the tricky way the...

A 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist • One of The New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Books of 2012 • One of TIME's Top 10 Fiction Books of 2012 • One of The Wall Street Journal's Best 10 Fiction Books of 2012 • A New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book of 2012 “NW is that...

“Smith’s thrilling cultural insights never overshadow the wholeness of her characters, who are so keenly observed that one feels witness to their lives.” —O, The Oprah Magazine “A sweeping meditation on art, race, and identity that may be [Smith’s] most ambitious work yet.” —Esquire A New York Times bestseller • Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction...

On Beauty by Zadie Smith, author of the prize-winning White Teeth, is a funny, powerful and moving story about love and family. Set mainly in New England and partly in London, On Beauty concerns a pair of feuding families - the Belseys and the Kipps - and a clutch of doomed affairs. It juxtaposes low morals with high ideals and...

A follow-up to the acclaimed Weirdo from three incredible talents One of the Observer's Best Children's Books of 2024 A warm and endearing story about the quiet power of being yourself from Zadie Smith, Nick Laird and Magenta Fox. Maud - a judo-suit wearing guinea pig and proud weirdo - is off into the wild, as is Kit, her owner....

A riotous dramatic translation of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Prologue, brought to glorious life on London's Kilburn High Road. Married five times. Mother. Lover. Aunt. Friend. She plays many roles round here. And never Scared to tell the whole of her truth, whether Or not anyone wants to hear it. Wife Of Willesden—pissed enough to tell her life...

Bestselling authors Zadie Smith and Nick Laird make their picture book debut with this warm and endearing story celebrating the quiet power of being different. Meet Maud—a guinea pig who inexplicably wears a judo suit—and not everyone understands or approves. When Maud is thrown into a new and confusing situation, it takes brave decisions and serendipitous encounters for her to...

The chronicler of contemporary London, acclaimed and bestselling author Zadie Smith, returns with her first historical novel. Kilburn, 1873. The 'Tichborne Trial' has captivated the widowed Scottish housekeeper Mrs Eliza Touchet and all of England. Readers are at odds over whether the defendant is who he claims to be—or an imposter. Mrs Touchet is a woman of many interests: literature,...