About this ebook
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
'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
Ratings and reviews
4.5
32 reviews
A Google user
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October 3, 2011
-Adored this book; felt like I was reading a younger, female version of Salman Rushdie or Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, minus the magical realism
-Beautifully weaves together a narrative that is lush, rich, and intoxicating
-I hate using tropes like "I couldn't put it down", but I really couldn't. I burned through over 500 pages in a week & then wanted to re-read it
Alex Hazell
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October 24, 2015
Really enjoyed this book. Even if Samad's time line doesn't exactly make sense. If he broke his hand in WW1 he would have been about 80 by 1975. Perhaps that was intentional by the author though? Really laughed and was transfixed by the novel.
3 people found this review helpful
A Google user
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June 13, 2012
Studied this book for A-Levels, glad I did. Smith presents a humorous take on religion, culture, loyalty, life and etc.
About the author
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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