White Teeth

Zadie Smith's astonishingly accomplished first novel, available as a Penguin Essential for the first time.

One of the most iconic fictional debuts of all time turns 25 this year!

‘What’s past is prologue…’

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 audacity of its scope and vision, its fresh-minted style, and the wit and warmth of its voice.

Funny, generous and big-hearted, it deals – 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.

A life affirming, riotous must-read of a book, it won the Guardian First Book Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction and the Whitbread First Novel Award.

‘Curl up with it, savour every sentence, then turn around and reread’ The Times

‘The outstanding debut of the new millennium’ Observe