Intimations: Six Essays

One of Time Magazine’s 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 and an FT Best Book of the Year

Thought-provoking and deeply consoling, a perfectly distilled set of essays on the strangest year many of us have experienced, from one of our wisest and most humane thinkers

‘As well as offering a new guide to living in a wild, messy and unfair world, Smith provides a reminder that we can use this crisis to imagine a better one’ Evening Standard

Deeply personal and powerfully moving, a short and timely series of essays on the experience of lockdown, by one of the most clear-sighted and essential writers of our time

‘There will be many books written about the year 2020: historical, analytic, political and comprehensive accounts. This is not any of those – the year isn’t half-way done. What I’ve tried to do is organize some of the feelings and thoughts that events, so far, have provoked in me, in those scraps of time the year itself has allowed. These are above all personal essays: small by definition, short by necessity.’

Crafted with the sharp intelligence, wit and style that have won Zadie Smith millions of fans, and suffused with a profound intimacy and tenderness in response to these unprecedented times, Intimations is a vital work of art, a gesture of connection and an act of love – an essential book in extraordinary times.

‘Zadie Smith is a marvel – her soulfulness, her sensitivity, her ability to write . . . She doesn’t try to make grand statements but just leaves you with the sense that you’re in the company of someone who can help you feel things deeply‘ Tom Hollander in the Guardian

Read a sample here