THE FRAUD

Zadie Smith expertly performs her historical novel inspired by true events. It's 1873, and Mrs. Eliza Touchet, a Scottish housekeeper, is watching the trial of a working-class Australian man who claims to be the true inheritor of a great estate and title. Mrs. Touchet begins thinking about her cousin William Ainsworth, a formerly great novelist now down on his luck who she suspects never actually wrote any of his novels himself. Is her cousin a fraud, too? Smith's performance is an equal match to her prose. Her narration possesses considerable emotional depth, and she delivers lines with her characteristic searing wit. Smith's ear for accents turns into perfectly performed dialogue for characters from every corner of London. K.D.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2023]