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A review by anusha_reads
The Fraud by Zadie Smith
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
THE FRAUD, ZADIE SMITH, LONGLISTED FOR WALTER SCOTT PRIZE 2024, SHORTLISTED FOR WRITERS PRIZE 2024.
The almost 500-page book is divided into eight volumes. The short chapters flow seamlessly, giving a sense of a fast-paced read. What I liked the most about the book was the fact that it’s fiction about real authors and takes place mostly in the head of a woman, a woman of the 19th century.
The story begins at the house of the author, William Ainsworth, who is the contemporary of Charles Dickens. Picture a family with children and helpers, though the children and other members do not play a prominent role.
It explores gender inequality, racism and class disparities.
The narrative builds up to the Tichborne case, a famous case that involved a butcher named Arthur Orton, who claimed to be the heir to the Tichborne estates and the title. He asserted that he was Sir Roger Tichborne, presumed by drowning. The case garnered considerable public attention, and eventually, he was proven to be a fraudster.
The author has woven this into the story so beautifully giving details of the Tichborne family and branching out to slaves and their lives talking about the hardships and other social conditions. A major chunk of the book was about Andrew Bogle, a Jamaican and a former slave. He is a key witness to the Tichborne trial.
The character that I loved the most was the protagonist, a widow Eliza Touchet, who is Ainsworth's cousin. She lives in Ainsworth's house. She is intelligent, a reader, and a lady with many interests. She hates being curtailed from doing whatever she wishes to do.
“HOW COULD A WOMAN EVER IMPROVE WHEN FENCED IN ON ALL SIDES BY CONTEMPT? WHEN GIVEN SO FEW OPPORTUNITIES?”
“ THE ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION WAS HELD IN JUNE. BUT WOMEN WERE BARRED FROM IT, MR. DICKENS. I WAS NOT ABLE TO ATTEND, MUCH TO MY FURY AND DISMAY.”
“ LADIES SHOULD STOP READING NOVELS- NOTHING GOOD COMES OF IT. IF IT WERE TO ME, A PETITION TO THAT EFFECT WOULD BE TAKEN TO PARLIAMENT.”
Some of the debates that Eliza Touchet engages with herself are admirable. She was a lady portrayed as determined and strong-willed, believing in trying out something new contrary to the societal norms at that time.
A well-researched historical fiction that’s also a fictional biography. Set in the Victorian era, it reads like a classic!
“THE PURPOSE OF LIFE WAS TO KEEP ONE’S MIND OPEN, NEVER TO JUDGE ON APPEARANCES OR BAD NAMES, AND ALWAYS TO MAKE DECISIONS BASED ON EVIDENCE ONLY.”
The almost 500-page book is divided into eight volumes. The short chapters flow seamlessly, giving a sense of a fast-paced read. What I liked the most about the book was the fact that it’s fiction about real authors and takes place mostly in the head of a woman, a woman of the 19th century.
The story begins at the house of the author, William Ainsworth, who is the contemporary of Charles Dickens. Picture a family with children and helpers, though the children and other members do not play a prominent role.
It explores gender inequality, racism and class disparities.
The narrative builds up to the Tichborne case, a famous case that involved a butcher named Arthur Orton, who claimed to be the heir to the Tichborne estates and the title. He asserted that he was Sir Roger Tichborne, presumed by drowning. The case garnered considerable public attention, and eventually, he was proven to be a fraudster.
The author has woven this into the story so beautifully giving details of the Tichborne family and branching out to slaves and their lives talking about the hardships and other social conditions. A major chunk of the book was about Andrew Bogle, a Jamaican and a former slave. He is a key witness to the Tichborne trial.
The character that I loved the most was the protagonist, a widow Eliza Touchet, who is Ainsworth's cousin. She lives in Ainsworth's house. She is intelligent, a reader, and a lady with many interests. She hates being curtailed from doing whatever she wishes to do.
“HOW COULD A WOMAN EVER IMPROVE WHEN FENCED IN ON ALL SIDES BY CONTEMPT? WHEN GIVEN SO FEW OPPORTUNITIES?”
“ THE ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION WAS HELD IN JUNE. BUT WOMEN WERE BARRED FROM IT, MR. DICKENS. I WAS NOT ABLE TO ATTEND, MUCH TO MY FURY AND DISMAY.”
“ LADIES SHOULD STOP READING NOVELS- NOTHING GOOD COMES OF IT. IF IT WERE TO ME, A PETITION TO THAT EFFECT WOULD BE TAKEN TO PARLIAMENT.”
Some of the debates that Eliza Touchet engages with herself are admirable. She was a lady portrayed as determined and strong-willed, believing in trying out something new contrary to the societal norms at that time.
A well-researched historical fiction that’s also a fictional biography. Set in the Victorian era, it reads like a classic!
“THE PURPOSE OF LIFE WAS TO KEEP ONE’S MIND OPEN, NEVER TO JUDGE ON APPEARANCES OR BAD NAMES, AND ALWAYS TO MAKE DECISIONS BASED ON EVIDENCE ONLY.”