The Fraud

The Fraud (2023) by Zadie Smith is a piece of historical fiction set in Victorian England in the 1870s. The novel explores the controversy surrounding the Tichborne case, in which a lower-class man claimed to be the lost heir to an aristocratic family fortune. The novel intertwines the stories of Elizabeth Touchet, a white woman and housekeeper, and Andrew Bogle, a once-enslaved man from Jamaica. Throughout The Fraud, Smith blends famous and lost-to-history British figures to craft her story about authenticity, racism, and gender roles.

Zadie Smith is the award-winning author of five other novels, including White Teeth (2000) and Swing Time (2016), one play, several nonfiction essays, and short stories. She has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and is a consistent New York Times bestseller.

This guide uses the 2023 edition of The Fraud published by Penguin Random House.

Content Warning: This guide discusses racism and enslavement, including explicitly racist ideas from the 19th century.

Plot Summary

Eliza Touchet is a Scottish Catholic who marries into a wealthier family. When her husband leaves her for another woman, taking their son with him, Eliza is left without parental access and without stability.