White teeth

In the author's words, this is "an attempt at a comic family epic of Little England into which an explosion of ethnic colour is injected", telling the story of three families, one Indian, one white, one mixed, in North London and Oxford from World War 2 to now.

White teeth tells the story of three families, one Indian, one white, one mixed, in London and Oxford from World War II to the present. It spans 25 years of two families' assimilation in North London, home of the book's two unlikely heroes: prevaricating Archie Jones and intemperate Samad Iqbal. They met in the Second World War and have been best friends ever since. The Joneses and the Iqbals are an unlikely pairing of families, but their destinies distil the British Empire's history and hopes into a dazzling melange that is a pure joy to read.