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The Original
‘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 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.
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 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.
400 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 19, 2025
198 people are currently reading
10680 people want to read
About the author
Nell Stevens
7 books318 followersNell Stevens writes memoir and fiction. She is the author of Bleaker House and Mrs Gaskell & Me (UK) / The Victorian & the Romantic (US/CAN), which won the 2019 Somerset Maugham Award. She was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award, 2018. Her writing is published in The New York Times, Vogue, The Paris Review, The New York Review of Books, The Guardian, Granta and elsewhere. Nell is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Warwick.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 251 reviews
June 11, 2025
A queer historical novel with a satisfying gothic tinge. Set in the closing years of the nineteenth century Nell Stevens’s moving, atmospheric piece centres on Grace Inderwick. Sent to live with her wealthy aunt and uncle as a child when her parents were hidden away in separate asylums, Grace feels as if she’s destined to be a permanent outsider. Her older cousin Charles becomes her closest friend but when he runs away from home Grace finds herself even more adrift. Alone in her room she hones her only skill an ability to copy great works of art so convincingly her versions barely differ from the originals. But this talent isn’t her only secret, Grace loves women, contenting herself with snatched moments with a series of ultimately-unavailable women. As time passes, her uncle and younger cousins die, leaving Grace and her aunt alone in their family home Inderwick Hall, a place whose chill corridors echo the emotional wasteland within. Then, after thirteen years, a man surfaces claiming to be the long-lost Charles and suddenly everything seems to be about to change.
Stevens’s accomplished novel revolves around the mystery of the adult Charles’s true identity. A mystery that’s mirrored in Grace’s attempts to work out who she is and who she wants to become. Stevens’s narrative’s been compared to work by Daphne Du Maurier, Sarah Waters and even Wilkie Collins, not unjustifiably. Aspects of Grace’s story reminded me of My Cousin Rachel, others of Waters’s Affinity and Collins’s brooding tales of troubled families. Woven into Stevens’s plot are detailed discussions of Grace’s forged paintings which, in turn, form a commentary on key themes from authenticity to self-doubt to the ‘new woman’ and the so-called Sapphic craze: from Courbet’s famously controversial Le Sommeil which sparked a fascination with depictions of lesbian lovers – albeit filtered through the male gaze - to the Arnolfini Portrait which raises issues around capitalism, exploitation, and social hierarchies. Overall gripping, entertaining and insightful.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Scribner for an ARC
Stevens’s accomplished novel revolves around the mystery of the adult Charles’s true identity. A mystery that’s mirrored in Grace’s attempts to work out who she is and who she wants to become. Stevens’s narrative’s been compared to work by Daphne Du Maurier, Sarah Waters and even Wilkie Collins, not unjustifiably. Aspects of Grace’s story reminded me of My Cousin Rachel, others of Waters’s Affinity and Collins’s brooding tales of troubled families. Woven into Stevens’s plot are detailed discussions of Grace’s forged paintings which, in turn, form a commentary on key themes from authenticity to self-doubt to the ‘new woman’ and the so-called Sapphic craze: from Courbet’s famously controversial Le Sommeil which sparked a fascination with depictions of lesbian lovers – albeit filtered through the male gaze - to the Arnolfini Portrait which raises issues around capitalism, exploitation, and social hierarchies. Overall gripping, entertaining and insightful.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Scribner for an ARC
October 9, 2025
This should have been a solid hit for me, historical mystery with a LGBT twist, but I have come away from it feeling just…..underwhlemed….and for the life of me I cant quite put my finger on why.
I think part of the disconnect for me is that the story never quite committed far enough to anything it wanted to be and as a result just kind of missed landing on the elements it attempted. There was a promising mystery plot, but the tension never really ratcheted up. There was allusions to some romantic subplots, but they never really got the substance they needed to hold emotional impact. There was a story of a woman’s attempts to gain financial independence through her high quality art forgeries, but we never really explore the illicit world of trade forgeries in depth or see her really grapple with the moral implications of her decisions.
It was an interesting, and a fairly unique experience to see Grace, one of our main protagonists, grapple with prosopagnosia and explore how that impacts her interpersonal relationships and ability to produce high quality paintings. Also, whilst never explicitly stated, Grace, to me at least, clearly read as autistic, which added another refreshing element of representation to her character.
I listened to the audiobook of this, and whilst a good quality production, I cant help but wonder if the rather totally flat performance provided for Grace maybe contributed towards my feelings of ambivalence at the end of this.
The premise held a lot of potential, the writing craft is definitely solid and I think that this could be appealing to the right people, but I just wanted to feel more…. Also I didn’t care for the ending AT ALL. I thought the resolution was cheap and lazy, but like, by this point I was already just feeling underwhelmed, so even my dislike for the ending felt half hearted at best lol.
I think part of the disconnect for me is that the story never quite committed far enough to anything it wanted to be and as a result just kind of missed landing on the elements it attempted. There was a promising mystery plot, but the tension never really ratcheted up. There was allusions to some romantic subplots, but they never really got the substance they needed to hold emotional impact. There was a story of a woman’s attempts to gain financial independence through her high quality art forgeries, but we never really explore the illicit world of trade forgeries in depth or see her really grapple with the moral implications of her decisions.
It was an interesting, and a fairly unique experience to see Grace, one of our main protagonists, grapple with prosopagnosia and explore how that impacts her interpersonal relationships and ability to produce high quality paintings. Also, whilst never explicitly stated, Grace, to me at least, clearly read as autistic, which added another refreshing element of representation to her character.
I listened to the audiobook of this, and whilst a good quality production, I cant help but wonder if the rather totally flat performance provided for Grace maybe contributed towards my feelings of ambivalence at the end of this.
The premise held a lot of potential, the writing craft is definitely solid and I think that this could be appealing to the right people, but I just wanted to feel more…. Also I didn’t care for the ending AT ALL. I thought the resolution was cheap and lazy, but like, by this point I was already just feeling underwhelmed, so even my dislike for the ending felt half hearted at best lol.
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July 3, 2025
The Best New Historical Fiction Books Out in July:
The author of Briefly, a Delicious Life pens another historical fiction novel about an unusual artist. Grace has been raised on the periphery of a once-great house, an unwelcome guest at the mercy of her uncle's charity. Her unusual gift for forging art sets her apart, but when her cousin George—long presumed dead—returns, it's exactly that gift for fakes that helps her decide who to believe and how to convince others to do the same. —Rachel Brittain
The author of Briefly, a Delicious Life pens another historical fiction novel about an unusual artist. Grace has been raised on the periphery of a once-great house, an unwelcome guest at the mercy of her uncle's charity. Her unusual gift for forging art sets her apart, but when her cousin George—long presumed dead—returns, it's exactly that gift for fakes that helps her decide who to believe and how to convince others to do the same. —Rachel Brittain
July 2, 2025
I was so engrossed by this historical novel with a gothic twist. While this isn’t a fast-paced plot, there’s a growing sense of dread, and it kept me guessing the entire time what the truth was about Charles. The motif of copies versus originals works very well, and I love the writing style: “When we fall in love with a person, we fall in love with the copy of them, inexpertly done, that we carry around with us whenever they aren’t there.”
I also found the depiction of queerness in 1899 England very interesting. Despite being secluded, Grace meets several other queer women. In multiple instances, they just look at each other and know. When they ask, “Are you like me?” there’s no ambiguity to what that means.
I was enraptured by this story, and unravelling of the mystery is perfectly paced. This was also a much more queer book than I was expecting. If you are a fan of queer historical fiction, I highly recommend this, and I can’t wait to read more from this author.
Full review at the Lesbrary.
I also found the depiction of queerness in 1899 England very interesting. Despite being secluded, Grace meets several other queer women. In multiple instances, they just look at each other and know. When they ask, “Are you like me?” there’s no ambiguity to what that means.
I was enraptured by this story, and unravelling of the mystery is perfectly paced. This was also a much more queer book than I was expecting. If you are a fan of queer historical fiction, I highly recommend this, and I can’t wait to read more from this author.
Full review at the Lesbrary.
July 30, 2025
4.5, rounded up.
This is - more or less - a reimagined Victorian version of the story of Martin Guerre, but that's fine; many books are based on existing stories. One of the more interesting, complicating factors in this is that our main character/narrator for much of the story, Grace, suffers from prosopagnosia, AKA 'face blindness' - an inability to recognize people well known to her. The returnee in this case is her cousin Charles, presumed lost at sea for 13 years, who reappears to complicate her life and those around her.
The story is queer (in both senses of the word - both Grace and Charles are inverts), twisty and unpredictable, rendered in well-chosen prose. I have two somewhat minor complaints - the middle of the book gets a might ponderous, sluggish, slowing down right when it needs to speed up. And this has the most atrocious copyediting of any volume I've seen from a major publisher in quite some time - words transposed, missing, duplicated, misspelled ... appalling!
Should one read it, I would strongly suggest Goggling all the paintings mentioned that Grace copies and refers to - it adds immeasurably to one's enjoyment of the book!
This is - more or less - a reimagined Victorian version of the story of Martin Guerre, but that's fine; many books are based on existing stories. One of the more interesting, complicating factors in this is that our main character/narrator for much of the story, Grace, suffers from prosopagnosia, AKA 'face blindness' - an inability to recognize people well known to her. The returnee in this case is her cousin Charles, presumed lost at sea for 13 years, who reappears to complicate her life and those around her.
The story is queer (in both senses of the word - both Grace and Charles are inverts), twisty and unpredictable, rendered in well-chosen prose. I have two somewhat minor complaints - the middle of the book gets a might ponderous, sluggish, slowing down right when it needs to speed up. And this has the most atrocious copyediting of any volume I've seen from a major publisher in quite some time - words transposed, missing, duplicated, misspelled ... appalling!
Should one read it, I would strongly suggest Goggling all the paintings mentioned that Grace copies and refers to - it adds immeasurably to one's enjoyment of the book!
August 13, 2025
Grace Inderwick suffers from face blindness. Prosopagnosia can be related to a brain injury, or it can be congenital. The condition is not named in this novel, set in the late 1880s-1900s, but Grace suffers from the symptoms (no head injury). She has difficulty recognizing faces, even those she's seen very recently. The condition keeps her from making friends and makes her socially awkward. Grace came to live with her wealthy Aunt and Uncle as a young girl when both her parents were sent to asylums. At her kinfolk's grand Oxfordshire estate, she is mostly ignored and neglected except for her cousin Charles, who is kind to her.
While growing up, she discovers an ability to copy artworks. This is an interesting talent, especially considering her inability to recognize faces. Nevertheless, she applies a laser-like focus to dissecting an artwork into grids and memorizing how to recreate it on canvas. She is unable to produce original art.
Cousin Charles goes to sea and reappears twelve years later. But, is it truly him?
Stevens delves into issues of wealth and poverty, how the Inderwicks came into their money, how Grace could use money to become independent of the Inderwicks, or could stay dependent on them, and what that would mean. She uses Grace's face blindness as well as her fascination with art and copying to explore issues of identity. It was fun to look up the artwork that is mentioned in the novel. Stevens uses these artworks as a way to further explore gender issues, sexual identity, and whether we can ever know who someone else is, who we are.
I found this story compulsively readable. There is intensity and suspense around determining if Cousin Charles is the real deal. After all, he is the heir apparent. And failing that, it would fall to Grace to inherit.
While growing up, she discovers an ability to copy artworks. This is an interesting talent, especially considering her inability to recognize faces. Nevertheless, she applies a laser-like focus to dissecting an artwork into grids and memorizing how to recreate it on canvas. She is unable to produce original art.
Cousin Charles goes to sea and reappears twelve years later. But, is it truly him?
Stevens delves into issues of wealth and poverty, how the Inderwicks came into their money, how Grace could use money to become independent of the Inderwicks, or could stay dependent on them, and what that would mean. She uses Grace's face blindness as well as her fascination with art and copying to explore issues of identity. It was fun to look up the artwork that is mentioned in the novel. Stevens uses these artworks as a way to further explore gender issues, sexual identity, and whether we can ever know who someone else is, who we are.
I found this story compulsively readable. There is intensity and suspense around determining if Cousin Charles is the real deal. After all, he is the heir apparent. And failing that, it would fall to Grace to inherit.
December 5, 2025
I think this book is charming, it is such a clever book about belonging, class and love. All set with the backdrop of Victorian England.
Nell Stevens has the most creative stories. A copyist who is faced with someone claiming to be her long lost cousin, are they the real cousin or an imposter....
Auto buy author for me.
Nell Stevens has the most creative stories. A copyist who is faced with someone claiming to be her long lost cousin, are they the real cousin or an imposter....
Auto buy author for me.
August 16, 2025
3.5, rounded up
Want to read
July 3, 2025is my edible hitting or does this sound really cool. is it both...please tell me
July 3, 2025
(rounded up from 4.5)
Can't beat Nell Stevens for stories about gay little ghost girls (sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively) lurking in a house with others and pining a little bit. Face blindness is not something that I see a lot in fiction myself but for a book like this, where the central conflict is about a long lost heir presumed lost at sea/dead coming back to his home to claim his life after 13 years and whether or not he is the man he claims to be, the face blindness works perfectly to establish the mystery till nearly the end.
Grace is a really interesting protagonist. Most protagonists like her, shy little creepers who are the poor relations trying to disappear in massive homes, tend to lean towards passivity, which makes them uninteresting as the point of view characters in the story but Grace has so many secrets that she's trying to hide, including the secret shame of her face blindness making her deeply insecure about any socialising, her queerness, and her secret profession as an art conterfieter, that she's absolutely bursting with interesting thoughts about life, art, her weird relatives, her parents who are locked up in the asylum, and her cousin(?) who is freshly back from the dead.
"Charles" is also a compelling character in this book, as a presence that loomed large as the unabashed black sheep of his rich family, young Grace's only friend and loving relative in the world, and now a mysterious figure who everyone either wants to believe is the heir to the fortune or refuses to believe it. His behaviour is nuanced enough to keep you guessing at the truth for the duration of a book, which is no mean feat. Usually, these sorts of attempts at stretching out a central mystery will start to get tiresome, but I found him endlessly interesting, alternating between behaviour that makes him seem kind and then a con man.
All in all, a fascinating look at the niche talents needed to be a good copier of art, i.e. to create art that is only as good as the original, nothing improved or reduced, and no ability to create on your own. Grace is a unique character and a really interesting one to base a book around, so props to Nell Stevens.
Can't beat Nell Stevens for stories about gay little ghost girls (sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively) lurking in a house with others and pining a little bit. Face blindness is not something that I see a lot in fiction myself but for a book like this, where the central conflict is about a long lost heir presumed lost at sea/dead coming back to his home to claim his life after 13 years and whether or not he is the man he claims to be, the face blindness works perfectly to establish the mystery till nearly the end.
Grace is a really interesting protagonist. Most protagonists like her, shy little creepers who are the poor relations trying to disappear in massive homes, tend to lean towards passivity, which makes them uninteresting as the point of view characters in the story but Grace has so many secrets that she's trying to hide, including the secret shame of her face blindness making her deeply insecure about any socialising, her queerness, and her secret profession as an art conterfieter, that she's absolutely bursting with interesting thoughts about life, art, her weird relatives, her parents who are locked up in the asylum, and her cousin(?) who is freshly back from the dead.
"Charles" is also a compelling character in this book, as a presence that loomed large as the unabashed black sheep of his rich family, young Grace's only friend and loving relative in the world, and now a mysterious figure who everyone either wants to believe is the heir to the fortune or refuses to believe it. His behaviour is nuanced enough to keep you guessing at the truth for the duration of a book, which is no mean feat. Usually, these sorts of attempts at stretching out a central mystery will start to get tiresome, but I found him endlessly interesting, alternating between behaviour that makes him seem kind and then a con man.
All in all, a fascinating look at the niche talents needed to be a good copier of art, i.e. to create art that is only as good as the original, nothing improved or reduced, and no ability to create on your own. Grace is a unique character and a really interesting one to base a book around, so props to Nell Stevens.
September 7, 2025
4.5! I don't think I'll ever reread this but it's such a delightful slice of queer historical fiction and I'd recommend it pretty widely. all the bits about being a painter/copyist were very cool, and even when it was pretty obvious what was happening with the mystery element, it was still super compelling. I didn't necessarily connect with the chraacters as much as I wanted to BUT I really, really, really loved the tone and portrayal of historical lesbianism (are you like me?) and the way sex and love were portrayed in different facets. great stuff, thank you nell stevens
August 5, 2025
Desperate romance, questionable identity, deep dives into art, subtle winks at Jane Eyre, Gothic vibes. Loved it!
November 21, 2025
I love a good gothic novel, and Nell Stevens has delivered. Set at the end of the 19th century, The Original follows Grace, a poor, parentless girl packed off to her aunt and uncle’s house after both her parents are shut away in an asylum. Her only consolation prize? Cousin Charles, who teaches her to paint until she discovers her true artistic talent: impressively profitable forgery.
But then the old family curse comes a-knockin’, and by the time 1899 rolls around, it’s just Grace and her aunt rattling around their big fancy estate, mourning an uncle and two cousins. For his part, Charles went to sea over a decade ago and has long been presumed dead until a letter arrives from Italy from a man claiming to be the missing heir. Grace and her aunt set off to retrieve him. While Grace is unsure, her aunt is convinced this is her son and brings him home, only to be met with raised eyebrows from the family lawyer and the entire town.
Meanwhile, Grace is busy trying to forge (literally and figuratively) a life that’s actually hers. She begins to earn money from her copies of famous paintings and dreams of using her talent to buy herself an independent life and to finally explore the queer awakening she can no longer ignore.
Stevens delivers all the foggy tension and creeping doubt you want from a gothic novel, but without taking herself too seriously. The atmosphere is deliciously ominous, the pacing compulsively readable, and the “is he or isn’t he?” mystery keeps you guessing. Sure, the plot twists in the back half start to require a little too much suspension of disbelief, but I was too busy tearing through the pages to care.
A smart, stylish, slightly bonkers update to the classic gothic. I had a great time and thoroughly recommend it!
But then the old family curse comes a-knockin’, and by the time 1899 rolls around, it’s just Grace and her aunt rattling around their big fancy estate, mourning an uncle and two cousins. For his part, Charles went to sea over a decade ago and has long been presumed dead until a letter arrives from Italy from a man claiming to be the missing heir. Grace and her aunt set off to retrieve him. While Grace is unsure, her aunt is convinced this is her son and brings him home, only to be met with raised eyebrows from the family lawyer and the entire town.
Meanwhile, Grace is busy trying to forge (literally and figuratively) a life that’s actually hers. She begins to earn money from her copies of famous paintings and dreams of using her talent to buy herself an independent life and to finally explore the queer awakening she can no longer ignore.
Stevens delivers all the foggy tension and creeping doubt you want from a gothic novel, but without taking herself too seriously. The atmosphere is deliciously ominous, the pacing compulsively readable, and the “is he or isn’t he?” mystery keeps you guessing. Sure, the plot twists in the back half start to require a little too much suspension of disbelief, but I was too busy tearing through the pages to care.
A smart, stylish, slightly bonkers update to the classic gothic. I had a great time and thoroughly recommend it!
July 5, 2025
Nell Steven's The Original offers a somewhat Dickensian tale of Grace, unwillingly taken in by a wealthy aunt and uncle. The only person who ever made her feel welcome in that home was her older cousin Charles—a drinker and a gambler who treated her with kindness and understood and accommodated her inability to recognize individual faces. He was also a painter and began teaching the art to Grace. When he argued with his father and stormed from the family home to become a sailor, Grace was on her own. In her attempts to continue painting, she realized that, while she couldn't paint from life, she could copy almost any existing painting.
After two years Charles is feared lost at sea. Eleven years after that, a message arrives, telling the family that Charles is alive and living in precarity in Italy. His father is dead, so his mother travels to meet Charles, bringing along Grace. If the man they meet really Charles? His voice sounds the same, but he's grown taller and broader. He knows things that only Charles should know. But as her aunt decides Charles is her son, Grace withholds judgement.
Readers get the back story in bits and pieces, but the central narrative begins with that trip to Italy and Charles' return. Grace longs to build an independent life for herself and has begun to explore making a living as an art forger. She explores this possibility in secret while continuing her attempts to determine whether this Charles is her Charles.
This novel has wonderful twists and turns, offering surprises until the end. Reading it was like enjoying a well-clued crossword puzzle. Like Grace, the readers are finding bits of information and fitting them into an overall structure. The Original would make an excellent vacation read and/or a buddy or book group read. There's lots to ponder, and it's that enjoyable sort of pondering that reels one in without creating significant anxiety.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via Edelweiss; the opinions are my own.
After two years Charles is feared lost at sea. Eleven years after that, a message arrives, telling the family that Charles is alive and living in precarity in Italy. His father is dead, so his mother travels to meet Charles, bringing along Grace. If the man they meet really Charles? His voice sounds the same, but he's grown taller and broader. He knows things that only Charles should know. But as her aunt decides Charles is her son, Grace withholds judgement.
Readers get the back story in bits and pieces, but the central narrative begins with that trip to Italy and Charles' return. Grace longs to build an independent life for herself and has begun to explore making a living as an art forger. She explores this possibility in secret while continuing her attempts to determine whether this Charles is her Charles.
This novel has wonderful twists and turns, offering surprises until the end. Reading it was like enjoying a well-clued crossword puzzle. Like Grace, the readers are finding bits of information and fitting them into an overall structure. The Original would make an excellent vacation read and/or a buddy or book group read. There's lots to ponder, and it's that enjoyable sort of pondering that reels one in without creating significant anxiety.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via Edelweiss; the opinions are my own.
March 24, 2025
I love this story. It's buzzing with life and intrigue. `Our narrator, Grace Inderwick, is sent to live with her hideous aunt and uncle when both her parents are declared insane and sent to asylums. She arrives hoping to be welcomed into a loving family only to find her dreams could not be further from the truth. The only human relationship she has is with her cousin, Charles. Charles teaches her to paint and unlocks her talent for forgery before he runs away to sea and disappears.
Years later Charles returns under mysterious circumstances and Grace is drawn into the puzzle of figuring out what is real and what may be a copy, in art and in life. This is a brilliant, witty tale told with brio and a dark humour and matching fury. Grace is a terrific character and I absolutely romped through this. In parts it reminded me of the work of Sarah Waters in a thrilling way.
Years later Charles returns under mysterious circumstances and Grace is drawn into the puzzle of figuring out what is real and what may be a copy, in art and in life. This is a brilliant, witty tale told with brio and a dark humour and matching fury. Grace is a terrific character and I absolutely romped through this. In parts it reminded me of the work of Sarah Waters in a thrilling way.
March 22, 2025
The several plots and sub plots make this book a fascinating read. Characters are constantly evolving contributing to the reader's questioning the varied conflicts. Very creative writing. A most interesting read with a surprising conclusion.
January 21, 2026
4.5
“A copy is a way of holding what cannot be held.”
In 1900’s England, this young woman who has face blindness tries to figure out if the man claiming to be her long lost cousin is who he says he is, while she also obsesses over copying and selling paintings to pay for her freedom so she can be gay in peace.
This was a whirlwind of a story. I really appreciate the anxiety and dread that you feel as she is trying to understand if this man is her cousin or not. How would it feel to not even recognize those closest to you? It’s really interesting and very effective. This cousin’s story, which you get more of as the story progresses, and hers are really fascinating together.
The art history of it all was interesting as well. Getting to see the energy the main character pours into these paintings, something she /can/ remember, and the way it makes her feel. I especially loved the way she described this painting of two women tangled together, a slight nod to the gal pal, but also then reminiscing about her own explorations with women.
The original vs the copy, and what that means for these characters and their freedoms, was fascinating. The queerness of it, as well. “Are you like me?” It was just such an intense story, and it reminded me of a hard-to-describe feeling, this feeling of almost knowing something but not quite grasping it. I loved it.
If you’re interested in quiet and captivating queer historical fiction, then check this out.
“A copy is a way of holding what cannot be held.”
In 1900’s England, this young woman who has face blindness tries to figure out if the man claiming to be her long lost cousin is who he says he is, while she also obsesses over copying and selling paintings to pay for her freedom so she can be gay in peace.
This was a whirlwind of a story. I really appreciate the anxiety and dread that you feel as she is trying to understand if this man is her cousin or not. How would it feel to not even recognize those closest to you? It’s really interesting and very effective. This cousin’s story, which you get more of as the story progresses, and hers are really fascinating together.
The art history of it all was interesting as well. Getting to see the energy the main character pours into these paintings, something she /can/ remember, and the way it makes her feel. I especially loved the way she described this painting of two women tangled together, a slight nod to the gal pal, but also then reminiscing about her own explorations with women.
The original vs the copy, and what that means for these characters and their freedoms, was fascinating. The queerness of it, as well. “Are you like me?” It was just such an intense story, and it reminded me of a hard-to-describe feeling, this feeling of almost knowing something but not quite grasping it. I loved it.
If you’re interested in quiet and captivating queer historical fiction, then check this out.
July 31, 2025
I was into the story... until I wasn't anymore.
Loved the writing and the premise of the book, I just didn't enjoy the plot "reveals".
3/5 ⭐
Loved the writing and the premise of the book, I just didn't enjoy the plot "reveals".
3/5 ⭐
May 22, 2025
The Original is a highly unique piece of historical fiction and I loved every single page. We meet our leading character Grace Inderwick, after she has come to live with her wealthy aunt and uncle, due to both her parents being placed in mental asylums. Grace is certainly a misfit (we assume neurodivergent, but that would not have had that label in the Victorian era), whom feels either ignored or one who causes annoyance to all her family members, apart from her cousin Charles whom kindly takes her under his wing. She has a rather unusual deficit, in that she has face blindness and struggles to remember faces to such an alarming degree that even those people she sees regularly, she gets confuddled by. Conversely she also has a very unique talent - Grace can expertly copy artists’ works with such precision, she can memorise and then recreate masterpieces to a quality of a professional copyist. (I did find these two aspects a little at odds with each other, but I let it go!) When her cousin Charles has a family disagreement, he suddenly leaves to live life at sea and is later thought to have been lost at sea, but then, more than a decade later, following the death of his father, Charles returns to claim his ‘rightful’ inheritance - but his appearance is somewhat changed and the family question, all bar his mother (who is clearly rather bonkers!), whether he is in fact the original Charles, or is he an imposter, a expert copyist?
I absolutely adored this comedic tale about Grace’s wonderfully odd character, and we are told the story through the thought processes and life experiences of Grace, her cousin ‘Charles’ and his lover Green. At times, Grace’s tale reads much like a stream of consciousness, ramblings of an (almost) mad person, but I found the focus on life’s minutiae and idiosyncrasies utterly fascinating and highly amusing at times. It was wittily clever take on this family’s heritage, almost Shakespearean in quality, examining the meaning of sanity, lineage, sexuality, family and what makes one unique and original. A firm 5/5 for me, and now I’m off to search Nell Steven’s back catalogue!
Big thanks to NetGallery for providing an ARC.
I absolutely adored this comedic tale about Grace’s wonderfully odd character, and we are told the story through the thought processes and life experiences of Grace, her cousin ‘Charles’ and his lover Green. At times, Grace’s tale reads much like a stream of consciousness, ramblings of an (almost) mad person, but I found the focus on life’s minutiae and idiosyncrasies utterly fascinating and highly amusing at times. It was wittily clever take on this family’s heritage, almost Shakespearean in quality, examining the meaning of sanity, lineage, sexuality, family and what makes one unique and original. A firm 5/5 for me, and now I’m off to search Nell Steven’s back catalogue!
Big thanks to NetGallery for providing an ARC.
July 7, 2025
Period 'Martin Guerre'/art copy story that pulls together beautifully.
Surprisingly hard to put down. This caught me very quickly, as soon as I learned that the main character appears to have Prosopagnosia (face blindness), and that the identity of her long-lost cousin, now returned a decade later, is not certain. A great combination of plot threads.
Set at the turn of the 20th century, Grace is an interloper in a grand house, the child of mad parents sent to live with her uncle's family, only her older cousin Charles seems to want to help her thrive and also to understand that she cannot hold a face in her head and cannot even recognise him without other cues.
Following a big family argument, Charles has now been at sea over 12 years having severed ties. But following a death and reconnection, he returns home... and is said to be an imposter.
Grown up herself, Grace has been spending her time doing the one thing she is talented at - copying great works of art. To possibly sell and make her own life way in the world from..? The return of Charles sends her plans into a tailspin, especially as he seems to be aware of her hidden and guilty feelings for those she is not meant to feel for.
The clever title pulls all aspects of this story together, there are so many versions of truth and copies, secrets and fakeries, all set within a crumbling house and family in a very cold and Victorian setting that is well-described and visually present.
I loved Grace, seeing the world through her foggy eyes that are also so clear when looking at art. I loved the story combination and how we gradually learn of both Grace's family history and where Charles has been for over a decade, as well as his own secrets.
Very insightful on Victorian values, on art works, and with some strong storylines running throughout. A great read.
With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.
Surprisingly hard to put down. This caught me very quickly, as soon as I learned that the main character appears to have Prosopagnosia (face blindness), and that the identity of her long-lost cousin, now returned a decade later, is not certain. A great combination of plot threads.
Set at the turn of the 20th century, Grace is an interloper in a grand house, the child of mad parents sent to live with her uncle's family, only her older cousin Charles seems to want to help her thrive and also to understand that she cannot hold a face in her head and cannot even recognise him without other cues.
Following a big family argument, Charles has now been at sea over 12 years having severed ties. But following a death and reconnection, he returns home... and is said to be an imposter.
Grown up herself, Grace has been spending her time doing the one thing she is talented at - copying great works of art. To possibly sell and make her own life way in the world from..? The return of Charles sends her plans into a tailspin, especially as he seems to be aware of her hidden and guilty feelings for those she is not meant to feel for.
The clever title pulls all aspects of this story together, there are so many versions of truth and copies, secrets and fakeries, all set within a crumbling house and family in a very cold and Victorian setting that is well-described and visually present.
I loved Grace, seeing the world through her foggy eyes that are also so clear when looking at art. I loved the story combination and how we gradually learn of both Grace's family history and where Charles has been for over a decade, as well as his own secrets.
Very insightful on Victorian values, on art works, and with some strong storylines running throughout. A great read.
With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.
July 15, 2025
Grace can’t recognize faces, but she can make perfect copies of paintings. Her cousin Charles disappeared for 13 years and is back to claim his inheritance, but he may be a forgery. And she may have the rightful claim to his inheritance if he is indeed not the original Charles.
The premise of this novel is highly captivating, with all the social sensibilities and Gothic flair of a Victorian novel along with a queer heroine and a delightfully intricate and suspenseful plot that kept me guessing until the very end. I loved this book the way I love the Brontës and Daphne du Maurier— it’s atmospheric, engrossing, full of dread and passion. The Original feels like a fully-fledged beloved classic that came out of nowhere.
Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for the opportunity to be an early reader of this title, available now!
The premise of this novel is highly captivating, with all the social sensibilities and Gothic flair of a Victorian novel along with a queer heroine and a delightfully intricate and suspenseful plot that kept me guessing until the very end. I loved this book the way I love the Brontës and Daphne du Maurier— it’s atmospheric, engrossing, full of dread and passion. The Original feels like a fully-fledged beloved classic that came out of nowhere.
Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for the opportunity to be an early reader of this title, available now!
October 25, 2025
Although the prose in this novel about copies and copying feels somewhat Victorian, it doesn’t feel like a copy at all, except to the extent all fiction (even the most experimental) is derivative. It does feature a mystery of sorts, as well as a near-orphan taken in by her rich relatives and the usual agglomeration of relatives and hangers-on who make the first-person narrator (a copyist of paintings; she never uses the word “forger” and it’s not clear whether the buyers really care) very uncomfortable, but the narrator herself is a fresh creation, her narration is wonderfully descriptive, of both things and people (especially paintings), and it contains far less dialogue than the usual Victorian novel or modern copy: these are people who speak only in short sentences, thank goodness.
What makes this novel so modern, besides its gender issues, is the focus on the characters’ weaknesses. The big question for me are the few alternate chapters with a third-person narrator and the protagonist missing. I wish I knew what the novel could have been were the information garnered from these chapters somehow available by other means. A 4.5.
What makes this novel so modern, besides its gender issues, is the focus on the characters’ weaknesses. The big question for me are the few alternate chapters with a third-person narrator and the protagonist missing. I wish I knew what the novel could have been were the information garnered from these chapters somehow available by other means. A 4.5.
September 23, 2025
I wish Nell Stevens's brand of weird, queer historical fiction was more popular. I love these.
Also, Kristin Atheron is quickly rising in my ranks of favorite audio narrators.
Also, Kristin Atheron is quickly rising in my ranks of favorite audio narrators.
August 24, 2025
It’s a slow burner, for sure, and there were certain plot devices that I felt meh about, but I’m a gothic girlie through and through and it won me over in the end.
Special thanks to my daughter for discovering this one and sharing the reading experience with me 🥰
Special thanks to my daughter for discovering this one and sharing the reading experience with me 🥰
July 7, 2025
I'm giving this four stars despite my overall feelings about it, which were less than flattering. An objective review of it tells me I had no real complaints so it must have been my mindset when I read it or something like that. I won't hold my bad brain against the book.
July 12, 2025
Very well written. Gothic, riveting. Fans of Du Maurier and Sarah Waters will eat this one up!
February 3, 2026
Gosh, this was such an interesting mashup. Two intertwined storylines circa 1900 that don’t sound like they even belong in the same book:
One is about a long lost heir returned home to claim his inheritance — unless he’s a con man? I changed my mind about 43 times on whether he was the real Charles.
The other is told by his cousin, Grace, about artistic masterpieces and forgery and face blindness and women loving women and powerlessness. (The writing about specific paintings was so great; reminded me a bit of The Goldfinch.)
Both storylines are about queerness and economic (in)dependence and they become more and more tightly intertwined and the whole thing just comes together and works. Really marvelous novel writing. Will def be seeking out more Nell Stevens.
One is about a long lost heir returned home to claim his inheritance — unless he’s a con man? I changed my mind about 43 times on whether he was the real Charles.
The other is told by his cousin, Grace, about artistic masterpieces and forgery and face blindness and women loving women and powerlessness. (The writing about specific paintings was so great; reminded me a bit of The Goldfinch.)
Both storylines are about queerness and economic (in)dependence and they become more and more tightly intertwined and the whole thing just comes together and works. Really marvelous novel writing. Will def be seeking out more Nell Stevens.
June 29, 2025
3.5⭐️
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