Folger Book Club
The Fraud by Zadie Smith
Book Club returns for a new season with this historical fiction novel by Zadie Smith, set in 19th-century England.
Booking and details
Coming SoonDates Thu, Aug 13, 2026, 6:30pm
Venue Virtual - on Zoom
Tickets Free, Registration required
Duration 6:30pm - 8:00pm (ET)
Registration opens Tue, Jul 7, 2026 at 4 PM, with early access for members beginning at 10 AM.
Our pick for the August 2026 Book Club is The Fraud by Zadie Smith.
About The Fraud
From acclaimed and bestselling novelist Zadie Smith, a kaleidoscopic work of historical fiction set against the legal trial that divided Victorian England, about who gets to tell their story—and who gets to be believed.
It is 1873. Mrs. Eliza Touchet is the Scottish housekeeper—and cousin by marriage—of a once-famous novelist, now in decline, William Ainsworth, with whom she has lived for thirty years.
Mrs. Touchet is a woman of many interests: literature, justice, abolitionism, class, her cousin, his wives, this life and the next. But she is also sceptical. She suspects her cousin of having no talent; his successful friend, Mr. Charles Dickens, of being a bully and a moralist; and England of being a land of facades, in which nothing is quite what it seems.
Andrew Bogle, meanwhile, grew up enslaved on the Hope Plantation, Jamaica. He knows every lump of sugar comes at a human cost. That the rich deceive the poor. And that people are more easily manipulated than they realize. When Bogle finds himself in London, star witness in a celebrated case of imposture, he knows his future depends on telling the right story.
The “Tichborne Trial”—wherein a lower-class butcher from Australia claimed he was in fact the rightful heir of a sizable estate and title—captivates Mrs. Touchet and all of England. Is Sir Roger Tichborne really who he says he is? Or is he a fraud? Mrs. Touchet is a woman of the world. Mr. Bogle is no fool. But in a world of hypocrisy and self-deception, deciding what is real proves a complicated task. . . .
About the Book Club
Our informal Book Club is free and open to all. Our picks range from historical fiction to adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays, encompassing a wide variety of genres.
Each session begins with a guest speaker exploring that month’s pick and highlighting items from the Folger collection related to the novel. After the short presentation, participants will be broken into smaller groups for breakout discussions, moderated by a team of staff and volunteers.
Why did we choose this book?
The Folger Shakespeare Library’s collection explores not only Shakespeare’s life and works, but also the plays’ historical context, source material, critical and performance histories, and the ways in which they inspire and are adapted by contemporary novelists.
Imagining how the celebrated Tichborne case—in which a butcher was accused of impersonating nobility —absorbs the attention of a literary English household, Smith’s novel contains a number of historical figures represented within the Folger collection, including Victorian novelist William Harrison Ainsworth, book illustrator George Cruickshank, and Charles Dickens.
Critical reception for The Fraud
“The Fraud matters because it unearths stories that need to be told, and because it asks a lot of important questions in both the unearthing and the telling. This is a novel packed with great writing and shining passages that go from humorous to deeply philosophical.” – Gabino Iglesias, NPR
“. . . almost flawless. . . I’d wager that this is her funniest novel yet.” – Abhrajyoti Chakraborty, The Guardian
“a triumph of historical fiction.”—Publisher’s Weekly, starred review
One of the New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year • One of NPR‘s Best Books of the Year • Named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly and BookPage • One of Oprah Daily‘s Best Novels of 2023
Content transparency
The Fraud includes potentially sensitive subjects. Expand below for a full list of content (includes spoilers).
- Slavery
- Racism
- Racial slurs
- Child death
- Sexual content
- Sexual violence
Guest speaker
Erica Haugtvedt
Erica Haugtvedt is an Associate Professor of English at South Dakota School of Mines. She specializes in seriality, fictionality, and the Victorian periodical press and entertainment market. Her research specifically engages serial Victorian narratives and fictional characters across media. Drawing upon narrative theory, cognitive psychology, and media history, Dr. Haugtvedt explores the porousness between fiction and reality. Her book, Transfictional Character and Transmedia Storyworlds in the British Nineteenth Century was published by Palgrave in 2022. Her work has appeared in Victorian Studies, Victorian Periodicals Review, Victorian Popular Fictions Journal, and Transformative Works and Cultures.
Support the Folger
Fall Folger Book Club selections are now available online and in-person through the Folger Shop!
Click below to purchase your copy of The Fraud online or come visit us at 201 East Capitol St SE during our opening hours.
You can also choose to support your favorite local bookstore through Bookshop.org or Libro.fm.