The Fraud
Ratings18
Average rating3.4
From acclaimed and bestselling novelist Zadie Smith, a kaleidoscopic work of historical fiction set against the legal trial that divided Victorian England, about who gets 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. He knows 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.”
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It's so good. I feel like I will need to read this book 3 times before I fully comprehend it.
I just finished The Fraud by Zadie Smith and here is my review.
It's 1873 and Mrs. Eliza Touchet is working for her cousin, by marriage, as a housekeeper. He happens to be a novelist, not that he has been famous for many years. She has been the housekeeper for 30 years to both of William's wives.
Andrew Bogle grew up as a slave and understands what happens to slaves on Jamaican sugar plantations. When Andrew finds himself as the star witness in a trial of an imposter, he knows his future relies on him telling the right story.
The trial is all about a low class butcher from Australia claiming he is the rightful heir to a large estate and the trial has Mrs. Touchet gripped, her and all of England. Can the truth ever be revealed?
I was so excited to get this book. I really enjoyed other books by the author and had high hopes. The book was all over the place. I could barely keep up with what POV it was and what time it was for a lot of the book. It wasn't cohesive or structured and it was so hard to get into a flow with the book.
I really enjoyed reading Mrs. Touchet's POV but it was all over the map it felt like a chore to read. The story was fascinating, the plot was exceptional but the execution just wasn't there for me and I was actually glad to be finished.
The book was really well researched and the writing was good, I just didn't like the format of the book, it did not work for me. It did send me down a rabbit hole researching the contents of the book and that made it all so worth it!
If the chapters had been longer and had more meat in each of them with less jumping around, it would have been an easy 5 stars. It pains me to be disappointed in it but it won't put me off more from the author.
3.75 stars.
Thank you @penguinrandomhouseca for my gifted copy
