Conceived by Zadie Smith as an experiment in literary ventriloquism, The Book of Other People brings together an extraordinary roster of contemporary writers, each asked to write a story about a character they did not create themselves.

The result is a collection about voice, perspective and the ethics of inhabiting another person's life. Contributors include David Mitchell, Daniel Clowes, ZZ Packer, Andrew O'Hagan, Nick Hornby, Edwidge Danticat, Aleksandar Hemon, Chris Ware, Hari Kunzru, Toby Litt, George Saunders, Jonathan Safran Foer, Miranda July, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Lethem, Colm Tóibín, A. M. Homes and many more.

What might have been a literary parlour game instead becomes a fascinating snapshot of early twenty-first-century fiction. Graphic narratives sit alongside conventional short stories, literary realism beside the uncanny, each author revealing as much about their own sensibility as the borrowed character they have been given. It is a rare anthology where the concept genuinely shapes the reading experience, making it especially rewarding for readers interested in contemporary fiction, style, authorship and the pleasures of comparison.

Hardcover. First Penguin Books edition, 2007. Light shelf wear to the boards with a clean interior, firm binding and pages in excellent condition.