On Beauty
by Zadie Smith · 2005
Literary Fiction · ranked #187 in category
Winner · The Women's Prize for Fiction, 2006
Two academic families — one liberal white British, one conservative Black American — are connected by a long professional rivalry, their children's entanglements and a painting that both men want to own. Smith's Booker Prize-shortlisted novel is a deliberate retelling of E.M. Forster's Howards End set in a New England college town.
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The verdict
- Category
- Literary Fiction
- Author
- Zadie Smith
- Standing
- Essential Read
About Literary Fiction
Literary fiction sits at the intersection of fine writing and serious storytelling — novels that reward attention and stay with you long after the last page. These are the books that alter your sense of what's possible in prose.
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