THE FRAUD by Zadie Smith

Who exactly is the title character in this novel?  There are several candidates, all real historical figures and all men.  Eliza Touchet, however, is the central character here, a widow who resides in the home of her cousin, William Ainsworth, for decades.  Ainsworth is a novelist whose work becomes increasingly ponderous and less popular as the years go by, and as his friend Charles Dickens surpasses him as a celebrated author.  At one point, Smith intimates that Ainsworth may not have been the originator of his early books’ plots, and it is perhaps for this reason that Ainsworth becomes a writer of historical fiction and loses his literary audience.  During this period in England in the 1800s a trial takes place that commands Mrs. Touchet’s attention, as well as that of Ainsworth’s second wife, a former maid named Sarah.  The trial involves a “Claimant’s” insistence that he is Sir Roger Tichborne and that he survived a shipwreck in which all other occupants died.  All evidence indicates that the Claimant is an opportunistic fraud, but a former slave named Andrew Bogle corroborates the Claimant’s unlikely story.  While Sarah joins the ranks of the Claimant’s supporters, Mrs. Touchet seeks out Bogle and elicits his personal history.  The writing here is excellent but does not quite compensate for the dreary, staid storyline and lack of suspense.  Plus, the timeline meanders and isn’t always obvious.  Mrs. Touchet is an intriguing character, in that she adores Ainsworth, feeding his ego with compliments even as her inner voice derides his abysmal later manuscripts.