Bøker av Nell Stevens

An unwanted guest of her uncle's family since childhood, Grace has grown up on the periphery of a once-great household. She has unusual predilections: for painting, particularly forgery; for deception; for other girls. Her life is altered when a letter arrives from the South Atlantic. The writer claims to be her cousin Charles, long presumed dead at sea. When he returns, a rift emerges between family members who claim he is an imposter and Grace's aunt, who insists he is her son. Grace, whose intimate knowledge of fakes is her own closely guarded secret, is forced to decide who to believe and who to pretend to believe. In deciphering the truth about her cousin, she comes to understand other truths: how money is found and lost, and who deserves to be rich; what family means to queer people; and the value of authenticity, in art and in love.

‘There was a painting my family set on fire. It burned to ashes, and then it came back.’ Grace grows up on the peripheries of a once-great household, an unwanted guest in her uncle Inderwick’s Oxfordshire home. She has unusual skills and unusual predilections: for painting, though faces often elude her; for lurking in the shadows; for other girls.   Quietly, Grace waits for something to change. Then a letter arrives, postmarked Saint Helena, causing a sensation. 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 in the family 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 finally decide who and what to believe in.   Deftly-plotted and shimmering with 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.

When George Sand and Frederic Chopin arrive at a monastery in Mallorca, the resident ghost, Blanca, falls head-over-heels in love with George - this striking woman in a man's clothing. But the rest of the village is suspicious, and as winter sets in, their stay looks likely to end in disaster. For fans of How to Be Both by Ali Smith.

From the author of the beloved Bleaker House, Mrs Gaskell and Me is the story of two very modern women and their two love affairs, separated by a hundred and fifty years.

Funny, warm and wise, Bleaker House is a book about trying, and failing, to write a novel.