The Original
A Novel
by Nell Stevens
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Pub Date Jul 01 2025 | Archive Date Jun 30 2025
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Description
In a grand English country house in 1899, an aspiring art forger must unravel whether the man claiming to be her long-lost cousin is an impostor.
An unwanted guest of her uncle’s family since childhood, Grace has grown up on the periphery of a once-great household. She has unusual predilections: for painting, particularly forgery; for deception; for other girls. Her life is altered when a letter arrives from the South Atlantic. The writer claims to be her cousin Charles, long presumed dead at sea. When he returns, a rift emerges between family members who claim he is an imposter and Grace’s aunt, who insists he is her son. Grace, whose intimate knowledge of fakes is her own closely guarded secret, is forced to decide who to believe and who to pretend to believe. In deciphering the truth about her cousin, she comes to understand other truths: how money is found and lost, and who deserves to be rich; what family means to queer people; and the value of authenticity, in art and in love.
About the Author: Nell Stevens is the author of Briefly, a Delicious Life and two memoirs, Bleaker House and The Victorian and the Romantic. She is an associate professor of creative writing at the University of Warwick and lives in Oxfordshire, England.
Advance Praise
"What a bewitching book this is. A sinuous, thrilling meditation on fakes and forgers, with echoes of Daphne du Maurier and Sarah Waters and an audacity that is totally original to Nell herself." -Olivia Laing, author of The Garden Against Time
"The Original is deliciously engaging and wildly intelligent. I adored this novel about art, authenticity, and desire and am a devoted fan of Nell Stevens." -Aysegül Savas, author of The Anthropologists
"A marvelously inventive and perfectly forged novel that poses a mischievous question: what role does likeness play in love? The ghosts of Oscar Wilde and Wilkie Collins stalk these pages, whether they know it or not." -Eleanor Catton, author of Birnam Wood
"A delightful, playful puzzle of a novel, and a brilliant twist on the nineteenth century orphan-makes-good story. The Original asks whether, sometimes, faking it is the right thing to do." -Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground
"Like varnish cracking to reveal a masterpiece underneath, The Original turns a tale of artistic copying into a thrilling study of class, ambition, and the ultimate confidence game: becoming oneself. Smart, sensual, and utterly mesmerizing, this is a novel of exquisite tension and craft." -Mark Prins, author of The Latinist
"Astonishing, unputdownable, unforgettable, The Original is a tour de force. A historical novel with the immediacy of the best realist fiction. I absolutely loved it." -Joanna Rakoff, author of My Salinger Year
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9781324110699 |
| PRICE | $28.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 320 |
