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  • The Fraud

  • By: Zadie Smith
  • Narrated by: Zadie Smith
  • Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
  • 3.7 out of 5 stars (19 ratings)

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The Fraud cover art

The Fraud

By: Zadie Smith
Narrated by: Zadie Smith
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Publisher's Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

The extraordinary first historical novel from bestselling author of White Teeth Zadie Smith.

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 realise. 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' 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'.
©2023 Zadie Smith (P)2023 Penguin Audio
Literary Fiction Historical Fiction
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Critic Reviews

This was really delightful. 10/10. Zadie Smith is a genius (Brandon Taylor)
The Fraud is brilliantly funny and sharply observed . . . Zadie Smith paints the Victorian era in vivid colour, offering us a clear view of the simmering tensions that gave birth to a growing and universal cry for freedom, shaking the notion of the benevolent British Empire (Paterson Joseph)

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Profile Image for Anonymous User

No no no no no!

Genius author who I revere and who's books I inhale with ever increasing admiration.

but she's no narrator, had to stop listening because I couldn't follow the story. Bought the book and whizzed through it.

Writers write, actors act - sure there's crossovers but in this case, unlistenable

Heartbreaking

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Profile Image for Kerry Kilner

Zadie Smith is a mistress of the 19th century tale

The immense scholarship on display here is awe inspiring. Smith has taken the style of a 19th century novelist, reproduced it but given it so much more depth and nuance than could ever be achieved by a lesser novelist of then or now. A superb examination of the lunacy at the base of the British class system and its colonial history including its key role in the slave trade over hundreds of years. The ability of the British to obscure and elide their culpability is demonstrated ably without burdening a gripping narrative with didacticism. What an astonishingly brilliant writer! And her narration was brilliant.

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My favourite author

I have read all her books and this one is a joy. A must read

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Profile Image for michele taylor

Enthralling Tale

What a great story made all the better when narrated by the author. Wonderful treat.

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Profile Image for Anonymous User

Very wordy descriptions of people and places. So many characters, it was difficult to keep track of who they were.

Too long and the description of the trial was too long and drawn out to maintain my interest. I’m still none the wiser who the fraud was!

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Profile Image for Megan Jurisich

Not keen on narrator

I just can’t follow the story and the narrators voice is very distracting. Disappointed after the great reviews. Can’t finish it, not an audio book for me.

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Profile Image for Eden

pass this on iver

At first i thought the narrators lisp was an affectation of the character. Then i came to realise that would be the style throughout the book. So difficult to follow. perhaps the print version wpukd be easier to follow.

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Profile Image for Amazon Customer

Awful narration

Couldn’t keep going with this. Seemed an interesting idea but it kept getting bogged down. The author should have paid for a professional narration.

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