Part 4 – 'crossing': Natalie's husband discovers the online account Natalie uses for her affairs and calls her out. But she leads a double-life, using the Internet to arrange secret sexual encounters with swinger couples. She graduated from a prestigious university, became a successful lawyer, married an investment banker from a rich family, and moved to one of to the most expensive parts of London to raise her two children with him. Part 3 - 'host': Natalie Blake has met every goal she ever set for herself. On his way home he is murdered during an armed robbery. He meets one last time with his drug-using ex-lover to say goodbye and officially leave that part of his life behind. Part 2 – 'guest': Former drug addict Felix Cooper wants to start a new life with his girlfriend Grace. The encounter with the scammer leads her to question her trust in the community. Part 1 – 'visitation': Leah Hanwell falls for a scam artist, who knocks at her door to ask for financial support in an emergency. All four characters represent a piece of the lost generation struggling to ascend economically. Leah is the focus of a lower-working-class life in comparison to Natalie who represents the small higher-working-class. Meanwhile, a chance encounter brings Felix and Nathan together. Despite their friendship and history, the two women find that they are very different from each other socio-economically. While Leah has not managed to venture far from her childhood location, her best friend Natalie, now a successful, self-made barrister, lives in an affluent neighbourhood in a Victorian house. Set in the northwest of London, England, four locals - Leah Hanwell, Natalie (born Keisha) Blake, Felix Cooper, and Nathan Bogle - try to make adult lives outside of Caldwell, the working-class council estate where they grew up. It was nominated for the 2013 Women's Prize for Fiction. The novel is experimental and follows four different characters living in London, shifting between first and third person, stream-of-consciousness, screenplay-style dialogue, and other narrative techniques in an attempt to reflect the polyphonic nature of contemporary, urban life.

It takes its title from the NW postcode area in North-West London, where the novel is set. NW is a 2012 novel by British author Zadie Smith.

Zadie smith nw review