The Original
'Puts Stevens in the class of Sarah Waters and even du Maurier herself' Financial Times
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4.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize 2026
A Finalist in the Nota Bene Prize 2026
‘Casually magisterial’ Guardian
'Endlessly intriguing' Observer
‘A marvel of a novel’ Ali Smith
‘Jane Eyre by way of Patricia Highsmith’ BBC Radio 4
‘Puts Stevens in the class of Sarah Waters’ Financial Times
‘There was a painting my family set on fire. It burned to ashes, and then it came back.’
Oxfordshire, 1899. Grace Inderwick grows up on the peripheries of a once-great household, an unwanted guest in her uncle’s home. She has unusual skills and unusual predilections: for painting, though faces elude her; for lurking in the shadows; for other girls.
Then a letter arrives, postmarked Saint Helena. After years missing at sea, Grace’s cousin Charles is ready to come home. When Charles returns, unrecognisable and uncanny, a rift emerges between those who claim he is an imposter and Grace’s aunt, who insists he is her son. And Grace, whose intimate knowledge of forgeries is her own closely-guarded secret, must decide who and what to believe in, and what kind of life she wants to live.
Deftly-plotted and shimmering with Nell Stevens’s distinctive intelligence, style and wit, THE ORIGINAL is a novel about the value of authenticity in art and in love, and what it means to be a true original.
'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 Stevens herself' Olivia Laing, author of THE GARDEN AGAINST TIME
'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 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
'A wonderful novel about identity, creativity, money and belonging. It's so witty and propulsive you will forget how brilliantly constructed it is, this tale that brims with the beauty of art, of how to triumph in a difficult world. I absolutely loved it' Jessie Burton, author of THE MINIATURIST
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Stevens (Briefly, a Delicious Life) crafts an accomplished portrait of an art forger and the dubious return of her long-lost aristocratic cousin in 1899. Sixteen years earlier, Grace, now 25, was sent to live at Inderwick Hall in Oxfordshire with her aunt, uncle, and cousins after her parents were committed to an insane asylum. Growing up on the vast estate, Grace felt like "a person who belonged nowhere," and became a skilled copyist with help from her cousin Charles, a painter. Charles was presumed dead at sea at 17, three years after Grace moved into the house. Now, he's written to his only surviving family, Grace and his mother, calling them to Rome where he is recovering from illness. Many, including the family's lawyer, Mr. George, question Charles's true motives, given his position as heir of the family's estate. Meanwhile, Grace, who's expected to be married off to a man, grapples with her preference for women, and falls for the daughter of an artist brought in to verify Charles's claims by examining his paintings. As the brisk plot unfolds in chapters alternating between the perspectives of Grace and the presumed Charles, Stevens raises thorny questions about the nature of art and identity. This will stay with readers.
