Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize 2026
A Finalist in the Nota Bene Prize 2026
'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' Aysegül 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 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.
'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' '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' 'Deliciously engaging and wildly intelligent. I adored this novel about art, authenticity and desire and am a devoted fan of Nell Stevens' 'A gorgeous, wildly seductive novel, shimmering with intelligence, humour and joy' 'Electrifyingly beautiful, exhilaratingly clever' 'Like the best historical fiction it is playfully disingenuous... the whole book is radiant with 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' 'Stevens is a very artful writer' 'A truly lovely book – acutely observed and honest and melancholy' 'Perfect… as funny as it is poignant' 'A marvellously inventive and perfectly forged nove
