Best-Selling Novel, Written By a 21-Year-Old from London, Ranked a ‘Best Book of the 21st Century’

Written while she was in her final year at the University of Cambridge, author Zadie Smith completed her debut novel, White Teeth, which was published in 2000. At just 21 years old, Smith sold the novel as a partial manuscript, where it then went to auction. White Teeth immediately became a bestseller upon publication and received massive, international critical acclaim.

Numerous articles and dissections of Smith’s novels have occurred since its publication 26 years ago, and The Guardian included it in the top 50 among its “Best Books of the 21st Century.”

White Teeth won multiple awards following its publication, including:

• The  James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction
• The 2000 Whitbread Book Award for Best First Novel
• The Guardian First Book Award
• The Commonwealth Writers First Book Prize
• The Betty Trask Award

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Two years later, Channel 4 adapted White Teeth into a four-part mini-series for TV. The adaptation starred Om Puri and Phil Davis. White Teeth was also adapted for the stage by London’s Kiln Theatre in 2018. The production included 13 entirely original songs written by Paul Englishby.

The novel spans decades and focuses on the friendship between two friends who met and became close during World War II—Englishman Archie Jones and Bangladeshi Samad Iqbal. Following the war, England goes through a massive transformation, and the two friends marry and start families of their own. The men are met with challenges from their wives, their children, their faith, against London’s racial and cultural tapestry. White Teeth explores modern life and dynamics, trauma, and the different ways we all exist in the world.

White Teeth and other works by the prolific Zadie Smith are available wherever books are sold.

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