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The Fraud

A Novel

Author Zadie Smith
Hardcover
$29.00 US
Penguin Adult HC/TR | Penguin Press
On sale Sep 05, 2023 | 464 Pages | 978-0-525-55896-5
Add to cart Add to list Exam Copies
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  • English > Comparative Literature > Literature by Women
  • English > Literature > British Literature – 21st Century
  • English > Literature > Women and Literature
  • About
  • Author
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 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 realize. 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”—wherein a lower-class butcher from Australia claimed he was in fact the rightful heir of a sizable estate and title—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.”
© Ben Bailey-Smith
Zadie Smith is the author of the novels White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, NW, and Swing Time, as well as a novella, The Embassy of Cambodia, three collections of essays, Changing My Mind, Feel Free, and Intimations, and a short story collection, Grand Union. She is also the editor of The Book of Other People. Smith was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2002, and was listed as one of Granta's 20 Best Young British Novelists in 2003 and again in 2013. White Teeth won multiple literary awards including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Guardian First Book Award. On Beauty was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Orange Prize for Fiction, and NW was shortlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. Zadie Smith is currently a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books. View titles by Zadie Smith

About

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 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 realize. 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”—wherein a lower-class butcher from Australia claimed he was in fact the rightful heir of a sizable estate and title—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.”

Author

© Ben Bailey-Smith
Zadie Smith is the author of the novels White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, NW, and Swing Time, as well as a novella, The Embassy of Cambodia, three collections of essays, Changing My Mind, Feel Free, and Intimations, and a short story collection, Grand Union. She is also the editor of The Book of Other People. Smith was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2002, and was listed as one of Granta's 20 Best Young British Novelists in 2003 and again in 2013. White Teeth won multiple literary awards including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Guardian First Book Award. On Beauty was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Orange Prize for Fiction, and NW was shortlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. Zadie Smith is currently a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books. View titles by Zadie Smith

Additional formats

  • The Fraud
    The Fraud
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-525-55897-2
    $14.99 US
    Ebook
    Penguin Press
    Sep 05, 2023
  • The Fraud
    The Fraud
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-593-78877-6
    $25.00 US
    Audiobook Download
    Penguin Audio
    Sep 05, 2023
  • The Fraud
    The Fraud
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-593-79264-3
    $31.00 US
    Large Print
    Random House Large Print
    Sep 05, 2023
  • The Fraud
    The Fraud
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-525-55897-2
    $14.99 US
    Ebook
    Penguin Press
    Sep 05, 2023
  • The Fraud
    The Fraud
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-593-78877-6
    $25.00 US
    Audiobook Download
    Penguin Audio
    Sep 05, 2023
  • The Fraud
    The Fraud
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-593-79264-3
    $31.00 US
    Large Print
    Random House Large Print
    Sep 05, 2023

Other Books by this Author

  • The Wife of Willesden
    The Wife of Willesden
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-593-65373-9
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Feb 14, 2023
  • The Surprise
    The Surprise
    Zadie Smith, Nick Laird, Magenta Fox
    978-0-593-52597-5
    $17.99 US
    Hardcover
    Viking Books for Young Readers
    Jun 28, 2022
  • Grand Union
    Grand Union
    Stories
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-525-55901-6
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Oct 06, 2020
  • Intimations
    Intimations
    Six Essays
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-593-29761-2
    $10.95 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Jul 28, 2020
  • Feel Free
    Feel Free
    Essays
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-14-311025-5
    $18.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Feb 05, 2019
  • Swing Time
    Swing Time
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-14-311164-1
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Sep 05, 2017
  • NW
    NW
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-14-312393-4
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Aug 27, 2013
  • Changing My Mind
    Changing My Mind
    Occasional Essays
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-14-311795-7
    $18.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Oct 26, 2010
  • On Beauty
    On Beauty
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-14-303774-3
    $18.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Aug 29, 2006
  • The Autograph Man
    The Autograph Man
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-375-70387-4
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 17, 2003
  • White Teeth
    White Teeth
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-375-70386-7
    $18.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 12, 2001
  • The Wife of Willesden
    The Wife of Willesden
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-593-65373-9
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Feb 14, 2023
  • The Surprise
    The Surprise
    Zadie Smith, Nick Laird, Magenta Fox
    978-0-593-52597-5
    $17.99 US
    Hardcover
    Viking Books for Young Readers
    Jun 28, 2022
  • Grand Union
    Grand Union
    Stories
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-525-55901-6
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Oct 06, 2020
  • Intimations
    Intimations
    Six Essays
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-593-29761-2
    $10.95 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Jul 28, 2020
  • Feel Free
    Feel Free
    Essays
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-14-311025-5
    $18.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Feb 05, 2019
  • Swing Time
    Swing Time
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-14-311164-1
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Sep 05, 2017
  • NW
    NW
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-14-312393-4
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Aug 27, 2013
  • Changing My Mind
    Changing My Mind
    Occasional Essays
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-14-311795-7
    $18.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Oct 26, 2010
  • On Beauty
    On Beauty
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-14-303774-3
    $18.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Aug 29, 2006
  • The Autograph Man
    The Autograph Man
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-375-70387-4
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 17, 2003
  • White Teeth
    White Teeth
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-375-70386-7
    $18.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 12, 2001
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