A 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist * One of The New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Books of 2012 * One of TIME's Top 10 Fiction Books of 2012 * One of The Wall Street Journal's Best 10 Fiction Books of 2012 * A New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book of 2012 [NW] is that rare thing, a book that is radical and passionate and real. -Anne Enright, The New York Times Book Review A triumph . . . As Smith threads together her characters' inner and outer worlds, every sentence sings. -The Guardian A powerful portrait of class and identity in multicultural London. -Entertainment Weekly Set in northwest London, Zadie Smith's brilliant tragicomic novel follows four locals-Leah, Natalie, Felix, and Nathan-as they try to make adult lives outside of Caldwell, the council estate of their childhood. In private houses and public parks, at work and at play, these Londoners inhabit a complicated place, as beautiful as it is brutal, where the thoroughfares hide the back alleys and taking the high road can sometimes lead you to a dead end. Depicting the modern urban zone-familiar to city-dwellers everywhere-NW is a quietly devastating novel of encounters, mercurial and vital, like the city itself.