The house is just wow - early Victorian, a 'terrace' - unassuming looking outside but massive inside - but there's still a kind of humility that really appeals to me - almost everything white, and a lot of hand-made things, and quilts and dark wood shelves and cornices - and in the whole place there's only one television, which is in the basement anyway just so Monty can keep abreast of news stuff, and some of the stuff he does on the television - but that's it. I know you want me to tell you it's a nightmare but I can't - I love living here. I've been in their place a week now, and still no mention of any rent, which should tell you something. And they were totally kind to offer - I was being evicted from the 'bedsit' place in Marylebone - and the Kipps aren't under any obligation to me, but they asked and I accepted - gratefully. You didn't respond so I'm imagining your reaction (not too hard to imagine.) the truth is it was really just the most convenient option at the time. Because it's such a small set-up, I get to work closely with him - and of course I'm living with the family now, so it's like being completely integrated into something new. Monty's work is much more than just the academic stuff - he's involved with the Race Commission and he has church charities in Barbados, Jamaica, Haiti etc - he keeps me pretty busy. I'm a kind of an intern with the duties of a PA - organizing lunches, filing, talking to people on the phone, that kind of thing. There's also three more yank interns downstairs (one from Boston!), so I feel pretty much at home.

I work in Monty Kipps' own office (did you know that he's actually Lord Monty?), which is in the Green Park area. Hey Dad - basically I'm just going to keep on keeping on with these mails - I'm no longer expecting you to reply but I am still hoping you will, if that makes sense. One may as well begin with Jerome's e-mails to his father:

As for herself, Smith grew up in London, the child of an English father and a Jamaican mother. The novel is set in Wellington, a fictional New England college town loosely based on Boston, Mass. Smith says the story is an homage to E.M. On Beauty, Smith's third book, is already winning praise from critics. She followed it up with the novel The Autograph Man.

In 2001, Zadie Smith garnered critical acclaim for her debut novel, White Teeth, written when she was just 24. Zadie Smith lives in London, where she was born.

White teeth novelist smith