On Beauty

By: Zadie Smith

Narrated by: Peter Francis James

Brought to you by Penguin.

WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE

SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2015

SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER

From the acclaimed author of Swing Time, White Teeth and Grand Union, discover a brilliantly funny and deeply mving story about love and family

Why do we fall in love with the people we do? Why do we visit our mistakes on our children? What makes life truly beautiful?

Set between New England and London, On Beauty concerns a pair of feuding families - the Belseys and the Kipps - and a clutch of doomed affairs. It puts low morals among high ideals and asks some searching questions about what life does to love. For the Belseys and the Kipps, the confusions - both personal and political - of our uncertain age are about to be brought close to home: right to the heart of family.

'I didn't want to finish, I was enjoying it so much' Evening Standard

'Thrums with intellectual sass and know-how' Literary Review

'Filled with humour, generosity and contemporary sparkle' Daily Telegraph

'Satirical, wise and sexy' Washington Post

© Zadie Smith 2005 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Critic reviews

The tale of a mixed-race British American family in conflict with another family of opposing sensibilities. As with all Smith's work, it's smart, funny and a masterclass in the complexities of identity (Luan Goldie)

a tale of love AND truth

Zaidie Smith has a very special way of expression, and of weaving a good story with an important political message. I love her books . i see and feel the characters throughout the story. The narration was perfect.

Pretentious

Couldn’t empathize with any of the characters. The book got on my nerves and finished reading it only as a sense of duty.