The Original
'Marvellously inventive and perfectly forged' Eleanor Catton
Will be published approx. on 19. June 2025
Book
Hardback
400 pages
978-1-3985-3338-7 (ISBN)
Description
'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' Ayseguel 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
'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' Ayseguel 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
Reviews / Votes
'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 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' * Ayseguel 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 gorgeous, wildly seductive novel, shimmering with intelligence, humour and joy' * Sarah Waters (on BRIEFLY, A DELICIOUS LIFE) * 'Electrifyingly beautiful, exhilaratingly clever' * Imogen Hermes Gowar (on BRIEFLY, A DELICIOUS LIFE) * 'Like the best historical fiction it is playfully disingenuous... the whole book is radiant with life' * Financial Times (on BRIEFLY, A DELICIOUS LIFE) * 'Nell Stevens's hugely accomplished debut novel evokes a sense both of place and time with a confidence that augurs well for her future career' * Guardian (on BRIEFLY, A DELICIOUS LIFE) * 'Stevens is a very artful writer' * Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker (on MRS GASKELL & ME) * 'A truly lovely book - acutely observed and honest and melancholy' * Jessie Greengrass (on MRS GASKELL & ME) * 'Perfect... as funny as it is poignant' * Lena Dunham (on BLEAKER HOUSE) * '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' * Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist * 'Intricate, endlessly intriguing... The reader is kept guessing until the very end... as Stevens deftly raises the stakes, the pages seem to turn themselves. The narrative captivates intellectually, too, probing questions of authenticity, imitation, and self-realisation, in love and in art. The overall effect is of an author boldly stepping out on her own, pursuing themes that were hers all along.' * Observer * 'Casually magisterial... Stevens is showing herself to be that rare thing: a writer who we can think alongside, even while she's making things up' * Lara Feigel, Guardian (book of the day) * 'Immaculate in structure, sure-footed in tone and propelled forward by a rising tide of apprehension, the novel is a captivatingly strange masterpiece of Victorian pastiche. It puts Stevens in the class of Sarah Waters and even du Maurier herself as a sharp-witted fiction writer whose masterly technique and style are matched and sustained by a compelling gift for spinning a yarn' * Miranda Seymour, Financial Times *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Simon & Schuster Ltd
Dimensions
Height: 237 mm
Width: 154 mm
Thickness: 34 mm
Weight
562 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-3985-3338-7 (9781398533387)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Nell Stevens
The Original
'Puts Stevens in the class of Sarah Waters and even du Maurier herself' Financial Times
Book
04/2026
Scribner UK
€13.00
Available immediately
Nell Stevens
The Original
'Puts Stevens in the class of Sarah Waters and even du Maurier herself' Financial Times
E-Book
06/2025
Simon + Schuster LLC
€6.44
Available for download
Person
Nell Stevens writes memoir and fiction. Her debut novel, Briefly, a Delicious Life was longlisted for the 2023 Dylan Thomas Award. She is also the author of Bleaker House and Mrs Gaskell & Me, which won the 2019 Somerset Maugham Award. She was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award in 2018. Her writing is published in The New Yorker, the New York Times, Vogue, The Paris Review, New York Review of Books, Guardian, Granta and elsewhere. Nell is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Warwick.