An Illuminating New Essay Collection from One of The Most Distinctive, Exciting and Acclaimed Writers of Her Generation, Zadie Smith 'zadie Smith Is a Wonderful Essayist. She Is a Natural. She Writes as She Thinks, and She Thinks Crisply and Exactly' - Tessa Hadley, _Guardian_ In this keenly awaited new collection, Zadie brings her unique skills as an essayist to bear on a range of subjects which have captured her attention in recent years. She takes an exhilaratingly close look at artists Toyin Ojih Odutola, Kara Walker and Celia Paul. She invites us along to the movies, to see and to think about _Tar_, and to Glastonbury to witness the ascendance of Stormzy. She takes us on a walk down Kilburn High Road in her beloved North West London and invites us to mourn with her the passing of writers Joan Didion, Martin Amis, Hilary Mantel, Philip Roth and Toni Morrison. She considers changes of government on both sides of the Atlantic - and the meaning of 'the commons' in all our lives. Throughout this thrilling collection, Zadie shows us once again her unrivalled ability to think through critically and humanely some of the most urgent preoccupations and tendencies of our troubled times. 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.