The Fraud by Zadie Smith

By Pragya Pandey, BA Hons Sociology, 3rd Year

Edited by Nandana

The Fraud is not just a historical novel. It is a mirror held up to both the 19th century and our own time, reflecting the illusions we cling to and the truths we refuse to see. With razor-sharp wit and a storyteller’s grace, Zadie Smith transports us to Victorian England, where the Tichborne trial—a real-life scandal involving an imposter claiming a lost inheritance—captures the nation’s imagination. At the heart of it all is Eliza Touchet, the observant and quietly defiant housekeeper of the failing writer William Ainsworth. Eliza is not the kind of character who demands attention. She simply earns it. Her sharp eyes cut through the pretense around her, from the falsehoods of the trial to the genteel hypocrisy of British society. When she says, “Truth is never loud. It does not announce itself. It simply waits to be seen,” you cannot help but wonder: how often have you mistaken noise for truth? But the novel’s brilliance lies in its layers. It is not just about one con or one era. It is about the fraudulence of power, the performances of race and class and the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of our place in the world. When a witness cries out, “Who decides what is true? The one with the money or the one with the story?” you pause. And you ask yourself—if you were on that jury, would you believe the lie or the liar? The Fraud is more than a novel about a trial. It is a trial of history itself, and we are all witnesses. To read it is to feel both shaken and seen.