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The Prize
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On Beauty – 2006 Winner

On Beauty – 2006 Winner

Zadie Smith’s On Beauty is a funny, powerful and moving story about love and family

Why do we fall in love with the people we do? Why do we visit our mistakes on our children? What makes life truly beautiful?

Set in New England mainly and London partly, On Beauty concerns a pair of feuding families – the Belseys and the Kipps – and a clutch of doomed affairs. It puts low morals among high ideals and asks some searching questions about what life does to love. For the Belseys and the Kipps, the confusions – both personal and political – of our uncertain age are about to be brought close to home: right to the heart of family.

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"It never occurs to me to write in only one voice. That's the thing about fiction writers: what seems alarming or particular or perverse about them is simply the shape of their brain—they cannot be otherwise. "

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Cast your vote for your favourite #ReadingWomen book and decide who will be our Winner of Winners in our 25th year.

Favourite book Ended

  • A Spell of Winter
    7% 413 / 5.7k
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    2% 160 / 5.7k
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    1% 98 / 5.7k
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    1% 72 / 5.7k
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    0% 34 / 5.7k
  • Small Island
    12% 735 / 5.7k
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    9% 544 / 5.7k
  • On Beauty
    5% 328 / 5.7k
  • Half of a Yellow Sun
    26% 1.5k / 5.7k
  • The Road Home
    2% 147 / 5.7k
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    3% 178 / 5.7k
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    3% 200 / 5.7k
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    2% 128 / 5.7k
  • The Song of Achilles
    17% 1k / 5.7k
  • May We Be Forgiven
    1% 98 / 5.7k
  • A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing
    3% 203 / 5.7k
  • How to be Both
    6% 347 / 5.7k
  • The Glorious Heresies
    2% 117 / 5.7k
  • The Power
    7% 413 / 5.7k
  • Home Fire
    7% 440 / 5.7k
  • An American Marriage
    8% 505 / 5.7k
  • Hamnet
    6% 347 / 5.7k
Via WP Poll & Voting System
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