{"product_id":"the-fraud","title":"The Fraud","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller - One of the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003e10 Best Books of the Year - One of NPR's Best Books of the Year - Named a Best Book of the Year by \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly \u003c\/i\u003eand BookPage - One of Oprah Daily's Best Novels of 2023\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"[A] brilliant new entry in Smith's catalog . . . \u003ci\u003eThe Fraud\u003c\/i\u003e is not a change for Smith, but a demonstration of how expansive her talents are.\" --\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom 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 who gets to be believed\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMrs. 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAndrew 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \"Tichborne Trial\"--wherein a lower-class butcher from Australia claimed he was in fact the rightful heir of a sizable estate and title\u003cb\u003e--\u003c\/b\u003ecaptivates 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. . . .\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBased on real historical events, \u003ci\u003eThe Fraud \u003c\/i\u003eis a dazzling novel about truth and fiction, Jamaica and Britain, fraudulence and authenticity and the mystery of \"other people.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Acorn Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":68205854589141,"sku":null,"price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0777\/7170\/2485\/files\/fraud.jpg?v=1794506004","url":"https:\/\/www.acornbookshop.com\/products\/the-fraud","provider":"Acorn Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}