ASSEMBLY

SHORTLISTED FOR THE FOLIO PRIZE 2022SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 2021 SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG FICTION AWARD 2021The acclaimed word-of-mouth hit and break-out debut of the year. Selected as a Book of the Year 2021 by booksellers, writers and readers:Observer Best Books of 2021Guardian Books of the YearThe i paper Books of the YearNew Statesman Book of the YearBad Form Book of the Year shortlistGood Housekeeping Best Books of the YearGoldsmiths Prize shortlistBooks Are My Bag Fiction Award shortlistFoyles, Daunt Books, Ignota and Libraria 'Book of the Year' selection'Assembly left me breathless with admiration. It is the kind of book that makes you feel like we might not need any more novels now, because here is the perfect one' Meg Mason, author of Sorrow and Bliss'Diamond-sharp, timely and urgent' Observer, Best Debuts of 2021'Subtle, elegant, scorching...

The literary debut of the summer' Vogue'Virtuosic, exquisite, achingly unique' Guardian 'I'm full of the hope, on reading it, that this is the kind of book that doesn't just mark the moment things change, but also makes that change possible' Ali Smith 'Exquisite, daring, utterly captivating. A stunning new writer' Bernardine EvaristoCome of age in the credit crunch. Be civil in a hostile environment.

Step out into a world of Go Home vans. Go to Oxbridge, get an education, start a career. Do all the right things.

Buy a flat. Buy art. Buy a sort of happiness.

But above all, keep your head down. Keep quiet. And keep going.

The narrator of Assembly is a Black British woman. She is preparing to attend a lavish garden party at her boyfriend's family estate, set deep in the English countryside. At the same time, she is considering the carefully assembled pieces of herself.

As the minutes tick down and the future beckons, she can't escape the question: is it time to take it all apart?'One of the most talked-about debuts of the year . . .

You'll read it in one sitting' Sunday Times Style'Expertly crafted, remarkable, astonishing... A literary debut with flavours of Jordan Peele's Get Out' Bookseller, Editor's Choice'Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway meets Citizen by Claudia Rankine...

As breathtakingly graceful as it is mercilessly true' Olivia Sudjic'Bold and original, with a cool intelligence, and so very truthful about the colonialist structure of British society' Diana Evans 'This marvel of a novel manages to say all there is to say about Britain today' Sabrina Mahfouz