Best Selling Books by Zadie Smith

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Updated for the 25th Anniverary with a new introduction by the author • The blockbuster debut novel from “a preternaturally gifted” writer (The New York Times) and author of On Beauty and Swing Time—set against London''s racial and cultural tapestry, reveling in the ecstatic hodgepodge of modern life, flirting with disaster, and embracing the comedy of daily existence. One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century Zadie Smith’s dazzling debut caught critics grasping for comparisons and deciding on everyone from Charles Dickens to Salman Rushdie to John Irving and Martin Amis. But the truth is that Zadie Smith’s voice is remarkably, fluently, and altogether wonderfully her own. At the center of this invigorating novel are two unlikely friends, Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal. Hapless veterans of World War II, Archie and Samad and their families become agents of England’s irrevocable transformation. A second marriage to Clara Bowden, a beautiful, albeit tooth-challenged, Jamaican half his age, quite literally gives Archie a second lease on life, and produces Irie, a knowing child whose personality doesn’t quite match her name (Jamaican for “no problem”). Samad’s late-in-life arranged marriage (he had to wait for his bride to be born), produces twin sons whose separate paths confound Iqbal’s every effort to direct them, and a renewed, if selective, submission to his Islamic faith. “[White Teeth] is, like the London it portrays, a restless hybrid of voices, tones, and textures…with a raucous energy and confidence.” —The New York Times Book Review

One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century Winner of the 2006 Orange Prize for Fiction, another bestselling masterwork from the celebrated author of Swing Time and White Teeth "In this sharp, engaging satire, beauty''s only skin-deep, but funny cuts to the bone." —Kirkus Reviews Having hit bestseller lists from the New York Times to the San Francisco Chronicle, this wise, hilarious novel reminds us why Zadie Smith has rocketed to literary stardom. On Beauty is the story of an interracial family living in the university town of Wellington, Massachusetts, whose misadventures in the culture wars—on both sides of the Atlantic—serve to skewer everything from family life to political correctness to the combustive collision between the personal and the political. Full of dead-on wit and relentlessly funny, this tour de force confirms Zadie Smith''s reputation as a major literary talent.

“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 • Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize An ambitious, exuberant new novel moving from North West London to West Africa, from the multi-award-winning author of White Teeth and On Beauty. Two brown girls dream of being dancers—but only one, Tracey, has talent. The other has ideas: about rhythm and time, about black bodies and black music, what constitutes a tribe, or makes a person truly free. It''s a close but complicated childhood friendship that ends abruptly in their early twenties, never to be revisited, but never quite forgotten, either. Tracey makes it to the chorus line but struggles with adult life, while her friend leaves the old neighborhood behind, traveling the world as an assistant to a famous singer, Aimee, observing close up how the one percent live. But when Aimee develops grand philanthropic ambitions, the story moves from London to West Africa, where diaspora tourists travel back in time to find their roots, young men risk their lives to escape into a different future, the women dance just like Tracey—the same twists, the same shakes—and the origins of a profound inequality are not a matter of distant history, but a present dance to the music of time. Zadie Smith''s newest book, Grand Union, published in 2019.

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From acclaimed and bestselling novelist Zadie Smith, a sprawling work of historical fiction set against the legal trial that divided Victorian England, about who gets to tell their story—and who gets to be believed. It is 1873. Mrs. Eliza Touchet is the Scottish housekeeper—and cousin by marriage—of a once famous novelist, now in decline, William Ainsworth, with whom she has lived for thirty years. Mrs. Touchet is a woman of many interests: literature, justice, abolitionism, class, her cousin, his wives, this life, and the next. But she is also sceptical. She suspects her cousin of having no talent; his successful friend, Mr. Charles Dickens, of being a bully and a moralist; and England of being a land of facades, in which nothing is quite what it seems. Andrew Bogle meanwhile grew up enslaved on the Hope Plantation, Jamaica. He knows every lump of sugar comes at a human cost. He knows that the rich deceive the poor. And that people are more easily manipulated than they realize. When Bogle finds himself in London, star witness in a celebrated case of imposture, he knows his future depends on telling the right story. The “Tichborne Trial”—wherein a lower-class butcher from Australia claimed he was in fact the rightful heir of a sizable estate and title—captivates Mrs. Touchet and all of England. Is Sir Roger Tichborne really who he says he is? Or is he a fraud? Mrs. Touchet is a woman of the world. Mr. Bogle is no fool. But in a world of hypocrisy and self-deception, deciding what is real proves a complicated task… Based on real historical events, The Fraud is a dazzling novel about truth and fiction, Jamaica and Britain, fraudulence and authenticity, and the mystery of “other people.”

Una deslumbrante colección de relatos nominada a la medalla Carnegie. A través de diversas perspectivas, desde lo histórico y lo actual hasta la más absoluta distopía, Grand Union es una reflexión estimulante y profética sobre el tiempo y el espacio, la identidad y el renacimiento, los legados que acechan nuestro presente y los posibles futuros que amenazan con llegar. Con un despliegue de recursos formales -autoficción, experimentación formal, ciencia ficción, surrealismo,sátira social, parábola y hasta una historia narrada por Dios- al alcance de muy pocos, Grand Union posee una fluidez y una libertad narrativas que recuerdan a una improvisación musical. Demuestra el calibre de una autora capaz de reinventarse con cada nuevo libro. La crítica ha dicho... « Grand Union de Zadie Smith son relatos que van desde lo histórico y lo actual hasta la más absoluta distopía, y componen una reflexión estimulante sobre el tiempo y el espacio, la identidad y el renacimiento. Zadie Smith convierte todo lo que toca en algo fresco y relevante.» Zenda Libros «Estos relatos son brillantes ejercicios de estilo a la vez que implícitos ejercicios de discrepancia y, por descontado, lúdicas enmiendas a latotalidad de nuestro mundo acuciado, veleidoso y frívolo. Grand Union escarba en los motivos de un desengaño del capitalismo feroz que asume y que desperdiga por los diecinueve relatos que se reúnen en el volumen de la mano de un humor ácido y de una visión excéntrica que en ocasiones traen a la memoria algunos textos de El mundo y otros lugares, de Jeanette Winterson. Smith químicamente pura, tan libérrima como siempre, observadora implacable de nuestro condenado mundo, que enjuicia el todo desde su conocimiento de las partes, provocadora y entrañable sabionda, valiente voz estridente que denuncia sin complejos las debilidades que nuestra sociedad muestra, conduciéndonos con la luz de su escritura a la oscura inquietud que padecemos (o que deberíamos padecer).» Babelia, El País «Con una prosa cautivadora, se enfrenta a la raza, la clase, las relaciones y los roles de género, la tecnología y la política en un mundo que se siente cada vez más difícil. Escribe con aguda perspicacia y ofrece un profundo e inteligente comentario social y político sobre nuestro agitado entorno, complejo y dividido.» Esquire «Smith es una experta en el retrato sutil de personajes. [...] Su maestría consiste en eludir el victimismo de unos y otros y volcar en ellos lo más formidable de su ironía compasiva. Una ironía llena de rebeldía pero también de comprensión.» ABC Cultural «Nada escapa a la brillante mirada y la voz inimitable de Zadie Smith, que convierte todo lo que toca en algo fresco y relevante. Con un asombroso despliegue de recursos formales y un ritmo absolutamente original, Grand Union es un nuevo hito de una autora capaz de reinventarse con cada libro.» De lector a lector «Lo mejor de Zadie Smith es su maestría descriptiva, que con pocas pinceladas nos sumerge en el ambiente que quiere reflejar, el retrato de personajes de variada condición --sobre todo los femeninos, que pueblan especialmente estos cuentos--, y un acertado manejo de los diálogos. Grand Union es una excelente oportunidad para acercarnos a uno de los mejores nombres de la literatura europea de hoy.» El Imparcial «Sin duda, estamos en compañía de una de nuestras mejores escritoras contemporáneas.» The Guardian «Varios de los relatos de Grand Union van camino de convertirse en clásicos.» Kirkus

Winner of the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism A New York Times Notable Book From Zadie Smith, one of the most beloved authors of her generation, a new collection of essays Since she burst spectacularly into view with her debut novel almost two decades ago, Zadie Smith has established herself not just as one of the world''s preeminent fiction writers, but also a brilliant and singular essayist. She contributes regularly to The New Yorker and the New York Review of Books on a range of subjects, and each piece of hers is a literary event in its own right. Arranged into five sections--In the World, In the Audience, In the Gallery, On the Bookshelf, and Feel Free--this new collection poses questions we immediately recognize. What is The Social Network--and Facebook itself--really about? "It''s a cruel portrait of us: 500 million sentient people entrapped in the recent careless thoughts of a Harvard sophomore." Why do we love libraries? "Well-run libraries are filled with people because what a good library offers cannot be easily found elsewhere: an indoor public space in which you do not have to buy anything in order to stay." What will we tell our granddaughters about our collective failure to address global warming? "So I might say to her, look: the thing you have to appreciate is that we''d just been through a century of relativism and deconstruction, in which we were informed that most of our fondest-held principles were either uncertain or simple wishful thinking, and in many areas of our lives we had already been asked to accept that nothing is essential and everything changes--and this had taken the fight out of us somewhat." Gathering in one place for the first time previously unpublished work, as well as already classic essays, such as, "Joy," and, "Find Your Beach," Feel Free offers a survey of important recent events in culture and politics, as well as Smith''s own life. Equally at home in the world of good books and bad politics, Brooklyn-born rappers and the work of Swiss novelists, she is by turns wry, heartfelt, indignant, and incisive--and never any less than perfect company. This is literary journalism at its zenith. Zadie Smith''s new book, Grand Union, is on sale 10/8/2019.

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 rare thing, a book that is radical and passionate and real.” —Anne Enright, The New York Times Book Review “A triumph . . . As Smith threads together her characters'' inner and outer worlds, every sentence sings.” —The Guardian “A powerful portrait of class and identity in multicultural London.” —Entertainment Weekly Set in northwest London, Zadie Smith’s brilliant tragicomic novel follows four locals—Leah, Natalie, Felix, and Nathan—as they try to make adult lives outside of Caldwell, the council estate of their childhood. In private houses and public parks, at work and at play, these Londoners inhabit a complicated place, as beautiful as it is brutal, where the thoroughfares hide the back alleys and taking the high road can sometimes lead you to a dead end. Depicting the modern urban zone—familiar to city-dwellers everywhere—NW is a quietly devastating novel of encounters, mercurial and vital, like the city itself.

"[These essays] reflect a lively, unselfconscious, rigorous, erudite, and earnestly open mind that''s busy refining its view of life, literature, and a great deal in between." —Los Angeles Times Split into five sections--Reading, Being, Seeing, Feeling, and Remembering--Changing My Mind finds Zadie Smith casting an acute eye over material both personal and cultural. This engaging collection of essays, some published here for the first time, reveals Smith as a passionate and precise essayist, equally at home in the world of great books and bad movies, family and philosophy, British comedians and Italian divas. Whether writing on Katherine Hepburn, Kafka, Anna Magnani, or Zora Neale Hurston, she brings deft care to the art of criticism with a style both sympathetic and insightful. Changing My Mind is journalism at its most expansive, intelligent, and funny--a gift to readers and writers both.

WINNER OF THE MOST PROMISING PLAYWRIGHT AT THE CRITICS CIRCLE THEATRE AWARDS 2022 ''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 Story to whoever has ears and eyes . . .'' Zadie Smith''s first time writing for the stage, The Wife of Willesden is a riotous twenty-first century translation of Geoffrey Chaucer''s classic The Wife of Bath''s Prologue, brought to glorious life on the Kilburn High Road. Commissioned to celebrate Brent''s year as Borough of Culture 2020, The Wife of Willesden ran at the Kiln Theatre, London from November 2021 to January 2022.

Zadie Smith''s brilliant tragi-comic NWfollows 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 after a chance encounter they each find that the choices they''ve made, the people they once were and are now, can suddenly, rapidly unravel. A portrait of modern urban life,NWis funny, sad and urgent - as brimming with vitality as the city itself. A Granta Best Young British Novelist 2013 ''Intensely funny, richly varied, always unexpected. A joyous, optimistic, angry masterpiece. No better English novel will be published this year.'' Philip Hensher, Daily Telegraph ''Astonishing, dazzling. Really - without exaggeration - not since Dickens has there been a better observer of London scenes. Zadie Smith is a genius. It''s hard to imagine a better novel this year - or this decade.'' A. N. Wilson ''Absolutely brilliant. So electrically authentic.'' Time ''Captivating. Funny, sexy, weird, full of acute social comedy. She''s up there with the best around.'' Evening Standard ''Marvellous . . . crackles with reflections on race, music and migration. A lyrical fiction for our times.'' Spectator ''Undeniably brilliant . . . rush out and buy this book.'' Observer

Una novela magistral e íntima de la vida moderna de Londres. Los protagonistas de la historia, Leah, Natalie, Felix y Nathan, crecieron entre edificios de protección oficial y, ahora en la treintena, la ambición y el azar los han llevado a alcanzar posiciones sociales muy distintas. Los encuentros y desencuentros entre ellos ponen de manifiesto sus diferencias raciales, la validez del ascenso social, su actitud ante cuestiones de fondo como la maternidad, la amistad, la lealtad. Al tiempo que va desvelando los secretos de sus personajes, Zadie Smith ofrece al lector un recorrido por una zona de Londres tan cautivadora como violenta, donde las animosas avenidas enmarcan lóbregas callejas y errar el camino puede conducir a un callejón sin salida. Así pues, el incesante flujo de personas de todo tipo y color, individuos obligados a reinventarse día a día, año tras año, conforman un auténtico laboratorio de prueba de la sociedad mixta y universal que el futuro nos depara. Finalista del Premio Orange y del National Book Critics Circle Award, esta última novela de Zadie Smith viene a confirmar su sólida posición entre los autores más destacados del panorama narrativo en lengua inglesa. Dueña de una brillante combinación de sentido del humor, inteligencia y empatía, y de una especial sensibilidad para captar las facetas más peculiares de la naturaleza humana, Zadie vuelca como nadie la diversidad de voces, rostros y emociones de los habitantes del noroeste de Londres, barrio donde se crio y uno de los enclaves urbanos con mayor índice de multiculturalidad no sólo de Inglaterra, sino del mundo. La crítica ha dicho... «Esta novela es un compañero inesperado e irónico de Dientes blancos: un retrato más sombrío y matizado de la cultura multirracial.» Joyce Carol Oates «La brillante escritora Zadie Smith es la sucesora legítima de Dickens.» The Independent «Una novela excepcional, desternillante y, a veces, algo macabra. NW London es una declaración de amor, lírica y muy cómica, a la zona noroeste de Londres. Al igual que Dickens, Zadie Smith posee un don para los diálogos y para combinar la indignación social con el humor que le permite crear intensas obras literarias.» The Sunday Telegraph «Una soberbia novela, vital y airada.» The Telegraph «Una novela de amplio espectro, compleja, sobre las fuerzas que envenenan nuestros sueños de promoción económica [...]. Brillante [...], una radiografía del Londres contemporáneo.» The Washington Post

“[Smith’s] slim collection of essays captures this peculiar moment with startling clarity. . . . The personal and political intermingle for a powerful indictment of America’s social systems.” —TIME, The 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 “While quarantined amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Smith penned six dazzling, trenchant essays burrowing deep into our contemporary culture of disease and upheaval and reflecting on what was ‘once necessary’ that now ‘appears inessential . . .’” —O, The Oprah Magazine, Best Books of 2020 “Smith does more than illuminate what we''re going through right now. She offers a model of how to think ourselves through a fraught historical moment without getting hysterical or sanctimonious, without losing our compassion or our appreciation for what''s good in other people. She teaches us how to be better at being human.” —John Powers, Fresh Air A New York Times Bestseller Deeply personal and powerfully moving, a short and timely series of reflective essays by one of the most clear-sighted and essential writers of our time. Written during the early months of lockdown, Intimations explores ideas and questions prompted by an unprecedented situation. What does it mean to submit to a new reality--or to resist it? How do we compare relative sufferings? What is the relationship between time and work? In our isolation, what do other people mean to us? How do we think about them? What is the ratio of contempt to compassion in a crisis? When an unfamiliar world arrives, what does it reveal about the world that came before it? Suffused with a profound intimacy and tenderness in response to these extraordinary times, Intimations is a slim, suggestive volume with a wide scope, in which Zadie Smith clears a generous space for thought, open enough for each reader to reflect on what has happened--and what should come next. The author will donate her royalties from the sale of Intimations to charity.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Swing Time and one of the most revered writers of her generation comes an "intelligent ... exquisitely clever [novel] about fame, mortality, and the triumph of image over reality” (The Boston Globe). Alex-Li Tandem sells autographs. His business is to hunt for names on paper, collect them, sell them, and occasionally fake them—all to give the people what they want: a little piece of Fame. But what does Alex want? Only the return of his father, the end of religion, something for his headache, three different girls, infinite grace, and the rare autograph of forties movie actress Kitty Alexander. With fries. The Autograph Man is a deeply funny existential tour around the hollow trappings of modernity: celebrity, cinema, and the ugly triumph of symbol over experience. It offers further proof that Zadie Smith is one of the most staggeringly talented writers of her generation.

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 find her place and embrace her individuality. The charming characters of Magenta Fox, whose work is evocative of Raymond Briggs and Janet Ahlberg, perfectly offset Zadie and Nick''s warm, wry prose. Weirdo is an endearing story about the quiet power of being different by two veteran writers, and introduces an exciting debut illustrator. Together they have created a picture book that adults and children alike will treasure.

This back-to-school season, individuality is in! Nothing makes a splash like being uniquely yourself—and celebrating what makes you different. From acclaimed authors Zadie Smith and Nick Laird, with art from exciting newcomer Magenta Fox, comes a powerful picture book debut! "[A] delightful tale for little oddballs everywhere."—Entertainment Weekly 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 find her place and embrace her individuality. The Surprise is an endearing story about the quiet power of being different by New York Times bestselling author Zadie Smith and award-winning writer Nick Laird, and introduces an exciting debut illustrator, Magenta Fox. Together they have created a picture book that adults and children alike will treasure.

A rare and brilliant story from Zadie Smith, taking us deep into the life of a young woman, Fatou, domestic servant to the Derawals and escapee from one set of hardships to another. Beginning and ending outside the Embassy of Cambodia, which happens to be located in Willesden, NW London, Zadie Smith''s absorbing, moving and wryly observed story suggests how the apparently small things in an ordinary life always raise larger, more extraordinary questions. ''It''s scale is superficially small, but its range is lightly immense; in the first couple of pages, the world from Ghana to London to Cambodia enters. It is a fiction of consequences both global and heartrenchingly intimate. This voice is global, plural and local, with a delicate grip on historic consequences...... Works on an awesomely global scale, and the relations of slavery and mastership are traced in both personal and international scale.'' Philip Hensher, The Guardian ''Reading it is a bit like having a starter in a restaurant that is so good you wish you had ordered a big portion as a main course, only to realise, as you finish it, that it was exactly the right amount.'' ''A perfect stocking-filler of a book that shows that short-form fiction can be as vibrant and as healthy as any densely realised full-length novel.'' Louise Doughty, The Observer ''Smith serves up a smasher.'' Leyla Sanai, The Independent On Sunday

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series. Please note that the eBook edition does NOT include access to the audio edition and digital book. Written for learners of English as a foreign language, each title includes carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers'' story comprehension and develop vocabulary. White Teeth, a Level 7 Reader, is B2 in the CEFR framework. The longer text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing future perfect simple, mixed conditionals, past perfect continuous, mixed conditionals, more complex passive forms and modals for deduction in the past. White Teeth is the story of three very different families who live close together in London in the 1980s and 1990s. The Bowdens are part-Jamaican; the Iqbals are from Bangladesh; and the Chalfens are white. The story looks at how people''s pasts affect their lives now, and the lives and futures of their children. Visit the Penguin Readers website Register to access online resources including tests, worksheets and answer keys. Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock a digital book and audio edition (not available with the eBook).

In any 24 hours there might be sleeping, eating, kids, parents, friends, lovers, work, school, travel, deadlines, emails, phone calls, Facebook, Twitter, the news, the TV, Playstation, music, movies, sport, responsibilities, passions, desires, dreams. Why should you stop what you''re doing and read a book? People have always needed stories. We need literature - novels, poetry - because we need to make sense of our lives, test our depths, understand our joys and discover what humans are capable of. Great books can provide companionship when we are lonely or peacefulness in the midst of an overcrowded daily life. Reading provides a unique kind of pleasure and no-one should live without it. In the ten essays in this book some of our finest authors and passionate advocates from the worlds of science, publishing, technology and social enterprise tell us about the experience of reading, why access to books should never be taken forgranted, how reading transforms our brains, and how literature can save lives. In any 24 hours there are so many demands on your time and attention - make books one of them. Carmen Callil Tim Parks Nicholas Carr Michael Rosen Jane Davis Zadie Smith Mark Haddon Jeanette Winterson Blake Morrison Dr Maryanne Wolf & Dr Mirit Barzillai

Engeland in de negentiende eeuw. Eliza Touchet is de Schotse huishoudster - en aangetrouwde nicht - van William Ainsworth, een schrijver wiens roem tanende is en met wie ze al dertig jaar door het leven gaat. Eliza is een vrouw met tal van interesses: literatuur, slavernij, klasse, haar neef, zijn vrouwen, dit leven en het volgende. Maar ze is ook sceptisch. Ze verdenkt haar neef ervan geen talent te hebben; zijn succesvolle vriend, Charles Dickens, dat hij een pestkop en een moralist is; en dat Engeland een land van valse schijn is, waarin niets is wat het lijkt. Andrew Bogle is als slaaf opgegroeid op de Hope Plantation op Jamaica. Hij weet dat elk schepje suiker mensenlevens kost. Dat de rijken de armen bedriegen. En dat mensen gemakkelijker te manipuleren zijn dan ze denken. Wanneer Bogle kroongetuige is in een beruchte rechtszaak, weet hij dat zijn toekomst afhangt van wat hij gaat zeggen. Charlatan is een duizelingwekkende roman, gebaseerd op echte gebeurtenissen uit de geschiedenis, over waarheid en fictie, Jamaica en het Verenigd Koninkrijk, bedrog en authenticiteit, en het mysterie van ''de ander''. Zadie Smith (1975) is de auteur van vijf romans, drie essaybundels en twee boeken met korte verhalen. Ze won onder meer de James Tait Black Memorial Prize, de Orange Prize for Fiction, de Whitbread First Novel Award en de Guardian First Book Award, en stond op de shortlist van de Man Booker Prize en de Baileys Women''s Prize for Fiction.

This is the story of a city. The north-west corner of a city. Here you''ll find guests and hosts, those with power and those without it, people who live somewhere special and those who live nowhere at all. And many people in between. Every city is like this. Cheek-by-jowl living. Separate worlds. And then there are the visitations: the rare times a stranger crosses a threshold without permission or warning, causing disruption in the whole system. Like the April afternoon a woman came to Leah Hanwell''s door, seeking help, disturbing the peace, forcing Leah out of her isolation... Zadie Smith''s brilliant tragi-comic new novel follows four Londoners - Leah, Natalie, Felix and Nathan - as they try to make adult lives outside Caldwell, the council estate of their childhood. From private houses to public parks, at work and at play, their London is a complicated place, as beautiful as it is brutal, where the thoroughfares hide the back alleys, and taking the high road can sometimes lead you to a dead end. Depicting the modern urban zone - familiar to town-dwellers everywhere - Zadie Smith''s NW is a quietly devastating novel of encounters, mercurial and vital like the city itself.