The Original (Signed first edition)

Nell Stevens

ISBN 10: 1398533386 / ISBN 13: 9781398533387

Published by Simon & Schuster Ltd, London, GB, 2025

About this Item

Signed first edition (First edition, first printing, signed by the author) ‘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' Ayşegül Savaş, 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.

Seller Inventory # 9781398533387-SF

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Original (Signed first edition)
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd, London, GB
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1398533386
• ISBN 13: 9781398533387
• Binding: hard
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: fine
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

‘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.