Swing Time

Author: Zadie Smith

Genre: Novel

Publication Date: 2016

Introduction

Acclaimed novelist Zadie Smith‘s fifth novel—and her first to be written in the first-person voice—tells of the friendship of two young women from childhood to adulthood. Both the unnamed narrator and her childhood best friend, Tracey have one white parent and one Black one. Both grow up in London’s housing projects; both are absorbed in the world of dance and dancers. However, only Tracey has the talent to pursue dance as a career, while the narrator allows herself to be swept up in the world of a narcissistic singer, Aimee. The novel’s title, Swing Time, is both the name of one of the old black-and-white movie musicals beloved by the narrator and a play on the words swing and time. The novel “swings” time itself as each part shifts back and forth between the narrator’s past and present, unveiling mysteries that are revealed over time.