The Embassy of Cambodia
by Smith, Zadie
First published in the New Yorker, The Embassy of Cambodia
is a rare and brilliant story that takes us deep into the life of a
young woman, Fatou, domestic servant to the Derawals and escapee from
one set of hardships to another. Beginning and
ending outside the Embassy of Cambodia, which happens to be located in
Willesden, NW London, Zadie Smith's absorbing, moving and wryly observed
story suggests how the apparently small things in an ordinary life
always raise larger, more extraordinary questions.
is a rare and brilliant story that takes us deep into the life of a
young woman, Fatou, domestic servant to the Derawals and escapee from
one set of hardships to another. Beginning and
ending outside the Embassy of Cambodia, which happens to be located in
Willesden, NW London, Zadie Smith's absorbing, moving and wryly observed
story suggests how the apparently small things in an ordinary life
always raise larger, more extraordinary questions.