Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | White Teeth | 2000 | Zadie Smith | Buy |
| 2 | The Autograph Man | 2002 | Zadie Smith | Buy |
| 3 | On Beauty | 2005 | Zadie Smith | Buy |
| 4 | NW | 2012 | Zadie Smith | Buy |
| 5 | Swing Time | 2016 | Zadie Smith | Buy |
| 6 | The Wife of Willesden | 2021 | Zadie Smith | Buy |
| 7 | The Fraud | 2023 | Zadie Smith | Buy |
Zadie Smith’s standalone novels span more than two decades, beginning with her breakout debut White Teeth in 2000. That novel, written while Smith was still at Cambridge, follows two wartime friends and their families through decades of life in multicultural North London. The Autograph Man (2002) shifted to a more satirical tone, following a dealer in celebrity autographs through questions of fame and authenticity.
On Beauty (2005) won the Orange Prize for Fiction and drew on E.M. Forster’s Howards End to tell the story of two academic families on opposite sides of a cultural divide. NW (2012) returned to Smith’s home borough of Kilburn, following four Londoners whose lives intersect in unexpected ways. Swing Time (2016) explored race, class, and ambition through the friendship of two girls who love to dance.
Smith’s more recent works show her range expanding further. The Wife of Willesden (2021) is an adaptation of Chaucer’s Wife of Bath set in a contemporary London pub, while The Fraud (2023) is a Victorian-era historical novel centered on a real-life court case that captivated 19th-century England.