The Original

'Marvellously inventive and perfectly forged' Eleanor Catton

By: Nell Stevens

Narrated by: Kristin Atherton, Matthew Spencer

Shortlisted for the James Tait Black 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

Critic reviews

'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 novel that poses a mischievous question: what role does likeness play in love? The ghosts of Oscar Wilde and Wilkie Collins stalk these pages, whether they know it or not’

‘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’

'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.'

‘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'

‘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’