Overview

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 amid the broken shards of his life, unable to move forward into a future that holds no place for him. A teenager chases spectres through virtual reality, trailed by a little girl with a runny nose and no surviving family. We all take a much-needed break from this mess, on a package holiday where the pool's electric blue is endless, while political and environmental collapse happen far away to someone else. Zadie Smith presents a sharply alert and slyly prescient collection about time and place, identity and rebirth, the persistent legacies that haunt our present selves and the uncanny futures that rush up to meet us.

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9780241983126

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Reviews

Tackles subjects including cancel culture, desire and race with Smith's trademark insight and lightness of touch * Stylist * Smith offers sharp social commentary in this wry collection of stories that takes on the complications of the modern world * Psychologies * Tremendous comic writing and snappy dialogue * Literary Review * An exuberant volume that's bracing, thoughtful and frequently very funny * Mail on Sunday * Grand Union seduces with language, acute observation, humour and the warmth of Smith's humanity. It's a startling, energising collection fom a writer unafraid to take risks * i * In these short stories she is miles and miles ahead, moving the finish line ever further as we are dazzled, knocked sideways by her craft . . . We see a master at work, exercising her vast talent with joy and vigour, reimagining old paradigms whilst maintaining the warmth and authenticity of her inimitable voice. For a writer who has seemingly done everything, it seems that Smith is just beginning * The Arts Desk * Each story is a new surprise of literary genius that takes the reader on a short journey away from reality . . . A must-read for literary lovers everywhere * Vanity Fair * Smith's dialogue crackles with mordant wit . . . this dazzling collection of stories will leave you with plenty to think about. * Independent * this is a book of and for the times, sobering in its clarity but bracingly witty and clever * Evening Standard * The stories in Grand Union address both eternal existential queries and decidedly contemporary concerns. * FT * Bewitching * Publisher's Weekly * She's already one of our best novelists and essayists, this reminds us that her short stories are right up there too * Observer * Smart and bewitching, the modern world is refracted in ways that are both playful and rigorous, formally experimental and socially aware... Smith exercises her range without losing her wry, slightly cynical humour. Readers of all tastes will find something memorable in this collection * Publisher's Weekly * Sexy and hilarious . . . There is no moment in Grand Union when we are not entertained,or doubt that we are in the company of one of our best contemporary writers. * Guardian * She's a genius . . . It's bliss -- Dolly Alderton

Author Information

Zadie Smith is the author of the novels White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, NW and Swing Time; as well as a novella, The Embassy of Cambodia; three collections of essays, Changing My Mind, Feel Free and Intimations; a collection of short stories, Grand Union; and the play, The Wife of Willesden, adapted from Chaucer. She is also the editor of The Book of Other People. Zadie Smith was born in north-west London, where she still lives. The Fraud is her first historical novel.

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