‘Here comes the sun’: Zadie Smith on hope, trepidation

I used to shock US audiences with my stories of Britain’s excellent, accessible universities and healthcare. Then the Conservatives ruined the country. Now real change is on the horizon

Twenty-four years ago, when I was 24, I did my first reading in an American bookshop. At the end, in the question-and-answer bit, a middle-aged lady with a disgruntled look on her face put her hand up: “Yeah, I don’t get it.”

I asked her what she didn’t get.