Referencing real-life historical figures, Zadie Smith's "The Fraud" challenges the conceptions of authenticity and truth when a man presumed to be dead returns, or so he claims. It is Eliza Touchet's ability to be observant that has helped her in her 30 years as housekeeper to her cousin William Ainsworth. It is how she knows that when a man claiming to be English aristocrat Roger Tichborne, who everyone believed to be deceased, is someone to watch closely. Andrew Bogle, a Jamaican man who backs Tichborne's story, also intrigues Eliza, but for a different reason. Rather than playing the political and social games of London society, Andrew seems to be different from everyone else . . . or is he? It's anyone's guess what is fact and what is fiction, and for those who don't know of the case's real-life conclusion (and even those who do), Smith's novel offers a powerful novel on conceptions of truth.
Release date: Sept. 5
