Description
WINNER OF THE WATERSTONES DEBUT PRIZE 2025
LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2025
A RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME
A TELEGRAPH AND SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
‘A furiously romantic, sun-drenched mystery . . . The Artist will leave you yearning in every sense of the word’ Yael van der Wouden, author of The Safekeep
‘The Artist is a lush, impressive debut; the writing is rich and sensuous, especially in descriptions of food, the landscape and the act of creation. Lucy Steeds is one to watch’ Sunday Times, BOOK OF THE YEAR
PROVENCE, 1920
Ettie moves through the remote farmhouse, silently creating the conditions that make her uncle’s artistic genius possible.
Joseph, an aspiring journalist, has been invited to the house. He believes he’ll make his name by interviewing the reclusive painter, the great Edouard Tartuffe.
But everyone has their secrets. And, under the cover of darkness, Ettie has spent years cultivating hers.
Over this sweltering summer, everyone’s true colours will be revealed.
Because Ettie is ready to be seen.
Even if it means setting her world on fire.
An intoxicating tale of art, love and secrets set across a sun-drenched Provençal summer in 1920, Steeds’ masterly debut revolves around a fabled, reclusive painter, an aspiring British journalist set on penning a piece on him, and the artist’s seemingly unworldly niece Ettie who harbours an explosive secret.
Blending mystery and slow-burning romance with lush, cinematic prose and exquisite characterisation, The Artist is an absorbing study in monstrous egos, self-discovery and the power of art, filled with dextrous detail for the senses.
‘Beautiful’ Daily Telegraph, BOOK OF THE YEAR
‘Dextrous and powerful . . . a hugely accomplished portrait of ambition and self-fulfilment’ Guardian
‘The year’s most lauded debut novelist . . . A sultry, headily perfumed portrait of monstrous male egos and oppressed overlooked women . . . The Artist uncovers its secrets by stealth’ Telegraph
‘A blaze of a book, poetic, passionate and quietly powerful’ Daily Mail
‘This compelling, evocative debut will transport you to idyllic, sun-drenched Provence in 1920 . . . An absorbing, poetic read’ Mail on Sunday
‘Captivating . . . with imagery as lush as an oil painting’ Washington Post
‘Enthralling . . . the descriptions of the landscape, the meals they eat and the art created are so rich and evocative it’s as if you’re there’ Good Housekeeping
‘Lucy Steeds transports the reader with her sensuous depictions of food, art, and landscape . . . an assured and atmospheric debut’ Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent
‘An intoxicating tale of creativity, possession and freedom. An impressively assured debut which asks questions about all those who are painted over by history’ Joanna Quinn, author of The Whalebone Theatre
‘I could not love this beautiful novel more . . . the final chapters left me with that delicious heart-bursting feeling, full of hope and delight’ Florence Knapp, author of The Names
‘Gorgeous . . . Steeped in the heat and atmosphere of 1920s Provence, this novel brims with intrigue, hope and yearning’ Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory and The Burial Plot
‘Phenomenal . . . beautiful, pacey historical fiction, vividly realised. It drifts with the scent of summer, the land lit up and throbbing, the food piled high and richly painted, the paint as thick and buttery as food. I wanted to eat it. Yes, I even wanted to eat the paint. Read this book!’ Seth Insua, author of Human, Animal
BEST BOOKS FOR 2025 from Stylist and Good Housekeeping
