14 Books Set in the 1980s, From Malibu Rising to Trust Exercise

In Zadie Smith's Swing Time ($13, originally $17), two mixed-race young girls meet in 1982 at a community tap class in London. Although both have aspirations to be dancers, Tracey is the one with the talent to pursue it as a career, while the unnamed narrator is the one clever enough to make it out of their neighborhood, assisting a famous pop star who gives her a view into the lives of the one percent. In the novel, Smith passes commentary on multicultural societies, family relationships, race, and identity through the story of a tight childhood friendship that ends abruptly in adulthood but is never fully forgotten.