The Fraud

No one understands humans better. As this novel shows, there is no better guide to people and their bottomlessness than Smith herself

iNews

This was really delightful. 10/10. Zadie Smith is a genius

Brandon Taylor author of The Late Americans

A novel full of people, ideas, humour, feeling and something like moral truth – the stuff of life

Evening Standard

Searingly original [and] virtuosic . . . the book masterfully depicts post-emancipation Britain as it ruptures along faultlines of class and race

Vogue

Brilliant. A Dickensian delight

Los Angeles Times

The Fraud is unlike anything you’ll read this year: a charismatic, cerebral novel that asks us to consider the greatest fraud of all, that of one man claiming to hold the key to another’s freedom

Irish Times

A wonderful meditation on truth and falsehood, and the boundaries between fact and fiction

Spectator

A big, rich saga, tumbling with characters and big issues (feminism, slavery, truth)

The Times, 'Best Novels of 2023'

The Fraud is a complex mosaic of interweaving plots . . . The novel pulls off the trick of being both splendidly modern and authentically old and the characters are varied and entertaining

Independent, ‘Best Books of 2023’

Affecting and devastating . . . In typical Zadie style, the narrative structure and decade leaping require you to pay attention – but you’re heavily rewarded with the sheer breadth of the novel and its vividly painted characters

Independent, '24 best summer books 2024'

Ambitious in both style and subject matter, and bursting with Smith’s trademark sprightly dialogue, The Fraud is also very funny

Guardian, 'Summer reading'

A rich and sprawling novel with a terrific cast of characters, this is Smith at her best

The i Paper, 'Best new paperbacks for summer'