Swing Time is the new novel by Zadie Smith. Set in London, two young brown girls study dance together falling in love with all the old musicals and dreaming of a life on stage. Only one has real talent and their lives eventually diverge. The unnamed protagonist ends up working as a personal assistant for a very famous white singer and travels with her to West Africa where she wants to start a school for girls.
Tracey, the dancer, manages to make it to the stage for a while before having three babies with three different fathers. I was very drawn into this story, I think Smith is a wonderful writer, I loved her earlier books, but I was disappointed with this one. By the end, it left me feeling sad and empty after I had invested so much in caring for the characters she created. Ultimately a disappointing read.
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