The Fraud

A Novel

By: Zadie Smith

Narrated by: Zadie Smith

Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

The New York Times bestseller • One of the New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year • One of NPR's Best Books of the Year • Named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly

“[A] brilliant new entry in Smith’s catalog . . . The Fraud is not a change for Smith, but a demonstration of how expansive her talents are.” —Los Angeles Times

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 who gets 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.”

PRAISE FOR THE AUDIOBOOK

“With the virtuosic agility of an actor in a one-woman play, Smith as narrator so fully embodies each of her many distinct characters that she exposes, sometimes without their even knowing, the ways in which every one of us misrepresents ourselves in one way or another. This is a 19th-century novel of manners in which various people have very bad ones, and the result, thanks to the author’s perfect ear for comic timing, is vigorously, insistently funny…Smith bounces nimbly across the vernacular empire while leaving no mistake about her ubiquitous irony, her vocal side eye.”—Lauren Christensen, The New York Times Book Review

“Smith expertly performs her historical novel inspired by true events…Smith’s performance possesses considerable emotional depth, and she delivers lines with her characteristic searing wit. Smith’s ear for accents turns into perfectly performed dialogue for characters from every corner of London.”—The Millions

©2023 Zadie Smith (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Terrible narration!

Zadie Smith’s narration is awful! She talks as if her mouth is full of mush and has a lisp on top of that. She’s really hard to understand and painful to listen to. I don’t understand why they didn’t use a professional narrator for this book. I tried really hard to get into this book but eventually gave up because I couldn’t take it anymore! What a waste of credit! So disappointing :(

Great writing. Poor reading.

Zadie Smith is a great writer.
She is not a great narrator.
Audio book narration is a medium unto itself. Literary authors are rarely the best audio narrators.
The best narrators play the role of the author, not the character in a novel.
The difference is subtle but important for listeners/consumers of audio.
Audible should know this.
After 20 chapters, I decided to read and not listen to this book.

A triumph

Once I figured out this was stylistically Dickens, I got into the groove and loved it. The author’s narration is superb…so good, I may not read it. I have already heard each of the characters in his or her voice!

Very good historical novel of society in 19th cent

I discovered author Zadie Smith through her debut novel "White Teeth," which I loved.

Her latest novel - "The Fraud," is about history. Sort of. She based the book on the true story of Roger Castro - a butcher who claimed to be Sir Roger Tichborne, an English nobleman believed to have drowned in a shipwreck years earlier. The Tichborne Claimant bears little resemblance to Sir Roger, but the working class rallies around him as one of their own. The Claimant's case is shaky, but two people believe him - Sir Roger's mother and Andrew Bogle, a former slave and free servant of the Tichborne family.

We experience the story primarily through the eyes of Eliza Touchet, cousin and housekeeper of once-popular author William Ainsworth.

Although Ms. Smith invented many situations and conversations in the novel, many characters were real people. Ainsworth, Tichborne, and Touchet were all real. Touchet died at an early age, so this story imagines her life had she survived for many more years. Even Charles Dickens makes an appearance.

The story touches on many themes - slavery and abolition; art versus commercial success; the role of intelligent women and black men in Victorian society; the role of the press; and the rights of the poor.

As in her excellent debut novel "White Teeth," this book explores the backstory of many of its characters, providing layers to the story and motivations of the characters.

The book covers three stories in detail: The Tichborne trial, the life of Eliza, and Bogle's journey from African landowner to Jamaican slave to English servant. Smith tells each story well, but she ties them together with less expertise than she did in the many subplots of "White Teeth."

The novel leaves many questions unanswered, not the least: To which fraud does the title refer? Is it the man claiming to be Tichborne despite lacking much of the knowledge possessed by that nobleman? Was it Ainsworth, whose novels were once popular but faded to obscurity in the last years of his life and were forgotten after his death? Or was it the British people who presumed to rid themselves of the guilt after abolishing the slave trade but allowing slavery in the colonies?

Whatever the answer, the story takes the reader on an interesting journey.

Zadie Amith excels at narration as much as in her writing

A Zadie Smith novel is a deep journey into past present and future and into yourself. In this novel she takes on the risky task of narrating her characters in their accents, switching effortlessly from Caribbean to Scottish to privileged English, and it all feels real, as if you are not just reading but eavesdropping. Brilliant.

Complex, thoughtful, fantastic characters

I loved it his book, and likely because Zadie Smith does a fantastic job of narrating. The characters and their nuances come to life both in prose and her spoken voice. An insight into the conflicting views and approaches to a colonial England, the enslaved and free, rich and poor, loved and reviled and a fascinating peek in literary circles throughout the 19th century.

Historical Fiction at its best!

I will be thinking about this book for years to come--incredible! One of my favorites this year.

Couldn't finish

I love the books I have read by Zadie Smith and was so excited for her new one I pre-ordered it. But, I couldn't finish this one! I am sad that I just could not get into it. Made it to the death of Dickens and just had to stop.

The historical information

Much too long. The author was not a good reader. The book Jumped around too much.
.

Superb

For some reason, I didn’t know it was the author reading it, and what a happy surprise that was.

As for the book, the more things change the more they stay the same.