From acclaimed and bestselling novelist Zadie Smith, a kaleidoscopic work of historical fiction set against the legal trial that divided Victorian England, about who deserves to tell their story – and about who deserves to be believed
It is 1873. Mrs Eliza Touchet is the Scottish housekeeper – and cousin by marriage – of a once famous novelist, now in decline, William Ainsworth, with whom she has lived for thirty years.
Mrs Touchet is a woman of many interests- literature, justice, abolitionism, class, her cousin, his wives, this life and the next. But she is also sceptical. She suspects her cousin of having no talent; his successful friend, Mr Charles Dickens, of being a bully and a moralist; and England of being a land of facades, in which nothing is quite what it seems.
Andrew Bogle meanwhile grew up enslaved on the Hope Plantation, Jamaica. He knows every lump of sugar comes at a human cost. That the rich deceive the poor. And that people are more easily manipulated than they realise. When Bogle finds himself in London, star witness in a celebrated case of imposture, he knows his future depends on telling the right story.
The ‘Tichborne Trial’ captivates Mrs Touchet and all of England. Is Sir Roger Tichborne really who he says he is? Or is he a fraud? Mrs Touchet is a woman of the world. Mr Bogle is no fool. But in a world of hypocrisy and self-deception, deciding what is real proves a complicated task…
Based on real historical events, The Fraud is a dazzling novel about truth and fiction, Jamaica and Britain, fraudulence and authenticity, and the mystery of ‘other people.’
Format: Paperback
Pages: 464
Imprint: Hamish Hamilton UK
Publication date: 07/09/2023
The Fraud
by Zadie Smith
Review by Ray
To my great shame, this was my first time reading Zadie Smith – and The Fraud did not disappoint. This is historical fiction with a fresh, funny energy, brimming with ideas about class, race and gender that are made to feel up-to-date and timely despite the Victorian English setting. The short, sharp chapters help move the plot – which spans many decades – on at pace. The gentle mockery of the pomp and appearances of London is paired beautifully with a section in the middle of the book that is set in colonial Jamaica, which, with its harrowing detail, reminds us what is really at stake. I loved it and can’t wait to read her previous books – particularly White Teeth.
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