The Fraud

Zadie Smith is the author of the novels <i>White Teeth</i> <i>The Autograph Man</i> <i>On Beauty</i> <i>NW </i>and<i> Swing Time</i>; as well as a novella <i>The Embassy of Cambodia</i>; three collections of essays <i>Changing My Mind Feel Free</i> and <i>Intimations</i>; a collection of short stories <i>Grand Union</i>; and the play <i>The Wife of Willesden</i> adapted from Chaucer. She is also the editor of <i>The Book of Other People</i>. Zadie Smith was born in north-west London where she still lives. <i>The Fraud</i> is her first historical novel. This was really delightful. 10/10. Zadie Smith is a genius <i>The Fraud</i> is brilliantly funny and sharply observed . . . Zadie Smith paints the Victorian era in vivid colour offering us a clear view of the simmering tensions that gave birth to a growing and universal cry for freedom shaking the notion of the benevolent British Empire Mesmerising. A triumph of historical fiction Her most commanding novel to date. This spectacularly entertaining and resonant historical novel will have enormous appeal Extraordinary. Readers of Hilary Mantel will be enthralled <p><b>Truth and fiction. Jamaica and Britain. Who gets to tell their story? Zadie Smith returns with her first historical novel.</b><br><br>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.<br><br>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.<br><br>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.<br><br>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...<br><br>Based on real historical events <i>The Fraud </i>is a dazzling novel about truth and fiction Jamaica and Britain fraudulence and authenticity and the mystery of 'other people.'<br><br><b>PRAISE FOR ZADIE SMITH:</b><br><br><b>'A writer of remarkable wit and originality' <i>Observer</i></b><br><br><b>'[Smith] packs more intelligence humour and sheer energy into any given scene than anyone else of her generation' </b><b><i>Sunday Telegraph</i></b><br><br><b>'A brilliant writer' A M Homes</b><br><br><b>'She's a genius' Dolly Alderton</b><br><br><b>'Zadie Smith is a national treasure' James Gleick</b><br><br><b>'A tremendous talent . . . </b><b>Smith is simply wonderful' Boyd Tonkin <i>Independent</i></b></p> <p><b>Truth and fiction. Jamaica and Britain. Who gets to tell their story? Zadie Smith returns with her first historical novel.</b><br><br>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.<br><br>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.<br><br>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.<br><br>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...<br><br>Based on real historical events <i>The Fraud </i>is a dazzling novel about truth and fiction Jamaica and Britain fraudulence and authenticity and the mystery of 'other people.'<br><br><b>PRAISE FOR ZADIE SMITH:</b><br><br><b>'A writer of remarkable wit and originality' <i>Observer</i></b><br><br><b>'[Smith] packs more intelligence humour and sheer energy into any given scene than anyone else of her generation' </b><b><i>Sunday Telegraph</i></b><br><br><b>'A brilliant writer' A M Homes</b><br><br><b>'She's a genius' Dolly Alderton</b><br><br><b>'Zadie Smith is a national treasure' James Gleick</b><br><br><b>'A tremendous talent . . . </b><b>Smith is simply wonderful' Boyd Tonkin <i>Independent</i></b></p>