SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 2021

'Diamond-sharp, timely and urgent' Observer, Best Debuts of 2021

Come 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?

'Subtle, elegant, scorching' 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 Evaristo