Fai clic su di un'immagine per andare a Google Ricerca Libri.
Sto caricando le informazioni... The Fraud (edizione 2023)di Smith Zadie (Autore)
Informazioni sull'operaThe Fraud di Zadie Smith
Sto caricando le informazioni...
Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. Historical fiction just how I like it - based on real happenings this story is set in a time when Charles Dickens was writing, slavery was officially abolished yet racial prejudice was rampant, and a trial was holding everyone's attention. Eliza Touchet was the Scottish housekeeper (and more) of her cousin a once-famous author. Eliza was very close to his first wife before she died; the second wife once being a servant in the house and the total opposite of the first and Eliza. Eliza can never quite find her place in society being a single woman. The Tichborne Trial involved a man who claimed to be the heir of a wealthy and important family in England whose son had supposedly disappeared when a ship drowned off the coast of South America. This man had none of the refinements of a gentleman and is believed to be a butcher from Australia. The book is about half of Eliza's life and the other half interspersed is the story of the trial. Both are interesting. Good writing; good story. In an absorbing and fascinating novel that spans 1830s to 1870s England, Zadie Smith has woven a story based on characters and events of the time, that has many resonances with today’s Britain. She introduces writers such as Charles Dickens, William Thackeray and William Ainsworth, concentrating mainly on the latter and his relationship with his cousin Eliza Touchet. Added to the mix, are the trials of Roger Tichbourne in the 1870s, as he attempts to prove that he has a rightful claim to an inheritance, an event that provoked high public feelings. Through these two topics, Smith explores such themes as the role of women in society, the perception and treatment of black people, class conflict and power and jealousy between authors. This is such a rich novel and makes for a thought-provoking read, with a choice of characters vying to be “The fraud”. nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
Premi e riconoscimentiMenzioniElenchi di rilievo
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.' Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
Discussioni correntiNessunoCopertine popolari
Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)823.914Literature English English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999Classificazione LCVotoMedia:
Sei tu?Diventa un autore di LibraryThing. |
When the author tells the story of Bogle, the book becomes more interesting and easier to follow. This section (and it does stay together as a coherent part of the book) is probably the best. Some of the later chapters about the trial of the claimant are cleverly written and make for quality literature. Sadly, the final chapters slip back into the earlier lack of clarity. The chapter in which Bogle and Mrs Touchet debate the concept of freedom is particularly strange; it seems to lack context within the rest of the book. Rather than ending, the book fizzles out. ( )