The Fraud by Zadie Smith (review).

This article reviews Zadie Smith's 2023 novel *The Fraud*, which is primarily set in 1870s London and centers on the historical Tichborne Claimant trial, a famous Victorian legal case involving a man who claimed to be the missing aristocrat Sir Roger Tichborne. The novel features real historical figures such as novelist Harrison Ainsworth and former slave Andrew Bogle, exploring themes of identity, social class, empire, and freedom through multiple narrative voices, especially that of Eliza Touchet, Ainsworth's cousin and housekeeper. Smith's work engages with Victorian literary traditions and social issues, using the trial as a lens to reflect on contemporary concerns like populism and racial injustice. The novel's structure, with short, shifting chapters, creates a kaleidoscopic effect that challenges readers to interpret its layered meanings.