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White Teeth

Zadie Smith author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd

Published:25th Jan '01

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White Teeth cover

S 2001 Mail on Sunday / John Llewellyn Rhys Prize

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 past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle, this book is written with a passion for ideas, for language and for the rich tragic-comedy of life.

An unforgettable portrait of London and one of the most talked about debuts of all time!

'The almost preposterous talent was clear from the first pages' Guardian

On New Years Day 1975, the day of his almost-suicide, life said yes to Archie Jones. Not OK or 'You-might-as-well-carry-on-since-you've-started'. A resounding affirmative.

Promptly seizing his second life by the horns, Archie meets and marries Clara Bowden, a Caribbean girl twenty-eight years his junior.

Thus begins a tale of friendship, of love and war, of three culture and three families over three generations . . .

*****

'Street-smart and learned, sassy and philosophical all at the same time' New York Times

'Outstanding' Sunday Telegraph

'An astonishingly assured début, funny and serious . . . I was delighted' Salman Rushdie

Funny, clever ... and a rollicking good read * Independent *
Do believe the hype, buy into it, curl up with it, savour every sentence, then turn around and re-read * The Times *
An impressive début, not only for its vitality and verve, but mainly for the sheer audacity of its scope and vision ... an epic tale ... swooping, funny ... it has ambition, wit and is unafraid -- Meera Syal * Express *
Announces the debut of a preternaturally gifted new writer ... street-smart and learned, sassy and philosophical all at the same time * The New York Times *
Relentlessly funny ... idiosyncratic, and deeply felt * Guardian *
An astonishingly assured début, funny and serious ... I was delighted -- Salman Rushdie
She is . . . a George Eliot of multi-culturalism * Daily Telegraph *
[Zadie Smith] is one of the prominent voices of her generation * Sunday Times *
Britain's finest young author * The List *
[Zadie Smith] packs more intelligence, humour and sheer energy into any given scene than anyone else of her generation * Sunday Telegraph *

  • Winner of Betty Trask Award 2001
  • Winner of WH Smith Book Awards: New Talent 2001
  • Winner of Whitbread Book Awards: First Novel Category 2000
  • Winner of Guardian First Book Award 2000
  • Winner of Whitbread Prize (First Novel) 2000

ISBN: 9780140276336

Dimensions: 198mm x 130mm x 35mm

Weight: 585g

560 pages