The Fraud By Zadie Smith Summary, Characters and Themes
The Fraud, written by Zadie Smith and published in 2023, is a richly layered historical fiction set in Victorian England during the 1870s. Blending real-life events with imagined personal stories, the novel examines themes of identity, race, class, and the facades people create to survive in society.
At its heart is Eliza Touchet, a woman navigating a complex life alongside a fading literary figure and later drawn into the infamous Tichborne trial, where a former enslaved man’s testimony raises questions about truth and deception. Smith masterfully interweaves history with fiction, creating a narrative that feels both intimate and expansive.
Summary
Eliza Touchet, a Scottish Catholic, enters the life of novelist William Ainsworth when her marriage falls apart. After her husband abandons her for another woman and takes their son, Eliza is left without a home or family.
Her husband’s death from illness, along with their son’s, leaves her without any close ties, and she ends up living with William, her brother-in-law, becoming an integral part of his household.
Over the years, she provides emotional support, encourages his career, and becomes deeply involved in his family’s life.
Eliza’s role in William’s home is far from straightforward. She shares a complicated bond with his wife, for whom she harbors secret affection, while simultaneously engaging in a clandestine affair with William.
The situation becomes more strained when William’s wife, overwhelmed by grief and heartbreak, dies. Eliza and the Ainsworth daughters are shattered, but William, ever self-absorbed and focused on his writing, quickly moves past the tragedy, diving back into his literary endeavors.
Eliza, meanwhile, finds herself increasingly sidelined as William’s career falters. His early success dwindles, his once-vibrant social circle diminishes, and his envy of contemporaries like Charles Dickens only grows.
As William’s fortunes fade, he marries Sarah, a young maid who becomes pregnant with his child. Sarah’s background as the daughter of a sex worker and her rise from domestic service to wifehood creates a scandal, but she adjusts to her new status with surprising ease.
Despite her elevated position, Sarah stays rooted in her origins and becomes involved in the political fervor surrounding the Tichborne Claimant, a man who asserts he is Sir Roger Tichborne, believed to have perished at sea.
The claimant’s story gains significant attention, especially from the lower classes, who are eager to believe in his return. One of the claimant’s chief supporters is Andrew Bogle, a former enslaved man with deep ties to the Tichborne family.
Although Eliza and William are skeptical of the claimant, Eliza becomes intrigued by Bogle. In him, she sees someone who, like herself, has navigated societal expectations and shaped his identity to survive.
Compelled by his story, Eliza seeks out an interview with Bogle, learning of his life, from his enslavement in Jamaica to his role as a servant in England and his eventual move to Australia with his family.
Bogle’s narrative, full of resilience and tragedy, captivates Eliza. His experiences, especially his thoughts on race and class in England, resonate with her as she begins to question her own biases.
However, as Eliza grows closer to Bogle’s son, Henry, she is confronted with uncomfortable truths about her own privilege and unconscious prejudice. Despite this, she remains determined to tell Bogle’s story.
She spends years writing The Fraud, a novel about the Tichborne case, under a male pseudonym. When William dies, Eliza is left to reflect on her life, mourning both her friend and the illusions that shaped her identity.
Characters
Eliza Touchet
Eliza Touchet, the central figure in The Fraud, is a complex character whose life is defined by a series of personal losses and moral awakenings. Born into a Scottish Catholic family, she marries into the wealthier Ainsworth family but suffers immense personal hardship when her husband leaves her for another woman, taking their son with him.
Eliza’s emotional vulnerability is exacerbated when her husband and son die, leaving her without parental access or a stable home. Despite this, she finds refuge in her brother-in-law, William Ainsworth’s, household, though her relationship with him is equally complex.
Eliza’s character evolves as she becomes deeply intertwined with William’s family, serving as an emotional caretaker for his wife and daughters, while secretly engaging in an affair with William. This affair highlights the contradictory nature of her character—both nurturing and morally transgressive.
Over the years, Eliza aids in William’s literary career, becoming part of his inner circle and hosting salons for elite literary figures like Charles Dickens. As she grows older, her influence wanes, leading her to reflect on her place in the world and society’s disregard for older women.
Eliza’s transformation is most evident when she becomes engrossed in the Tichborne Claimant case, drawn in by Andrew Bogle’s life story. Her growing fascination with Bogle leads to a profound shift in her understanding of race, identity, and the masks people wear in society.
Eliza’s gradual realization of her own biases, particularly in her conflict with Bogle’s son Henry, is a critical moment of self-awareness. Her decision to write The Fraud under a male pseudonym illustrates her continued struggle with societal limitations on women, even as she seeks to tell a story she is ultimately not entitled to write.
William Ainsworth
William Ainsworth, a Victorian novelist and Eliza’s brother-in-law, serves as both a source of stability and conflict in Eliza’s life. Though he takes her in after her husband abandons her, William’s character is deeply flawed.
His obsession with his literary career often overshadows his personal relationships. While William initially enjoys some success as a novelist, his envy towards Charles Dickens and other literary contemporaries illustrates his deep-seated insecurities and frustrations as a writer.
William’s relationship with women is complex and often exploitative. He marries twice—first to a wife whom he neglects emotionally, causing her to fall ill and die, and later to Sarah, an illiterate maid whom he impregnates and subsequently marries.
His second marriage elevates Sarah from a marginalized position to a gentleman’s wife, but it also underscores William’s carelessness in matters of personal responsibility. His affair with Eliza adds further depth to his character, portraying him as a man driven by desire but ultimately detached from the emotional consequences of his actions.
William’s eventual decline—both in his career and personal life—paints him as a tragic figure consumed by ambition but devoid of true empathy or self-awareness.
Sarah
Sarah, William Ainsworth’s second wife, is a character who represents both the possibility of social mobility and the enduring stigma of class. As an illiterate maid and the daughter of a sex worker, Sarah’s background is one of extreme poverty and marginalization.
However, her marriage to William elevates her status from a maid to a gentleman’s wife, a transformation that she navigates with both pride and awareness of her origins. Despite her new social standing, Sarah never forgets where she comes from, and this informs her empathy for figures like the Tichborne Claimant and Andrew Bogle, with whom she feels a class solidarity.
Sarah’s encouragement of Eliza to engage with the Tichborne Claimant’s story is significant, as it reveals her belief in the importance of giving voice to the marginalized. Though Sarah’s role in the novel may seem secondary, she plays a crucial part in exposing the rigid class structures of Victorian England and the fragility of social mobility.
Her ability to rise in status through marriage underscores the precarious nature of such transformations, as her identity is still shaped by her past, regardless of her current position.
Andrew Bogle
Andrew Bogle is one of the most significant characters in The Fraud, representing both the intersection of race and class in Victorian England and the complexities of identity. Born into enslavement in Jamaica, Bogle’s life is marked by resilience and heartbreak.
His early years of enslavement and later clerical work on a plantation reflect the deeply ingrained racial hierarchies of the British Empire. When Sir Edward Touchet recognizes his potential and brings him to England, Bogle enters the world of British aristocracy, though his position is always marked by racial otherness.
Bogle’s support of the Tichborne Claimant, despite widespread skepticism from the British elite, highlights his defiance of the rigid class and racial systems that seek to marginalize him. His belief in the claimant’s story is not only about loyalty to the Tichborne family but also about his desire to assert his own agency in a society that continuously denies him that right.
Bogle’s relationship with Eliza is central to the novel’s exploration of race and identity. While Eliza initially sees Bogle as a mirror of her own ability to adapt and “code-switch,” Bogle’s life story forces her to confront the deeper, more insidious nature of racism in Victorian society.
His dignity and honesty stand in stark contrast to the deceit and exploitation surrounding him, making him one of the novel’s most morally grounded figures.
Henry Bogle
Henry Bogle, Andrew’s son, represents the next generation of Black Britons, attempting to carve out a space for themselves in a society that remains hostile to their existence. Henry’s life in England and later Australia is shaped by his father’s experiences, yet he grapples with his own identity and place in the world.
His relationship with Eliza becomes fraught when it becomes clear that she is writing a story she may not fully understand. Henry’s confrontation with Eliza exposes the limitations of her empathy and the latent biases that even well-meaning people can harbor.
Henry’s character adds complexity to the novel’s exploration of race and authorship, as he challenges Eliza’s right to tell his father’s story. His role in The Fraud serves as a reminder of the ongoing struggles faced by people of color in navigating a world dominated by white voices and perspectives.
His eventual estrangement from Eliza speaks to the novel’s broader themes of appropriation, power, and the limits of understanding across racial lines.
The Tichborne Claimant
The Tichborne Claimant is a pivotal figure in the novel, representing both the hopes of the working-class and the skepticism of the upper-class. His claim to be Sir Roger Tichborne, who was believed to have died in a shipwreck, captivates a nation divided along class lines.
For people like Sarah and Andrew Bogle, the claimant symbolizes the possibility of challenging the entrenched power structures that favor the rich and privileged. For Eliza and William, the claimant is a symbol of fraud and deception, a man whose story is too fantastical to be true.
The claimant’s ability to gather support from people like Bogle reflects the novel’s larger themes of identity and belonging. His journey from Australia to England, with Bogle by his side, highlights the fluid nature of truth and the power of narrative in shaping public opinion.
The claimant’s story, whether true or false, forces the characters to confront their own beliefs about class, race, and identity, making him a crucial figure in the novel’s examination of Victorian society’s moral and social contradictions.
Themes
The Illusions of Social Mobility and Class Boundaries
Zadie Smith’s The Fraud provides a nuanced exploration of the rigidity and complexity of social mobility in Victorian England. Characters like Sarah and Andrew Bogle highlight the difficult reality that transcending one’s class often comes with significant costs, even if it appears achievable on the surface.
Sarah, once an illiterate maid and the daughter of a sex worker, rises to the status of a gentleman’s wife through her marriage to William. However, her journey illustrates that social ascension is often limited by one’s origins and circumstances.
Despite her new title, Sarah cannot erase her past, and she carries with her the weight of class disparity and the stigma attached to her lineage. Bogle’s life further emphasizes the limitations of upward mobility, especially for people of color in a deeply racist society.
Despite his intelligence, resilience, and competence, Bogle finds himself marginalized and perpetually on the outside of British society, needing to leave England to seek opportunity elsewhere. Even when he returns to England alongside the Tichborne Claimant, Bogle is not treated as an equal but as a necessary figure for the claimant’s credibility.
Through these characters, Smith underscores the painful reality that social mobility is often a mirage. While some can rise slightly above their stations, they are never fully liberated from the confines of their class.
The Erasure of Women’s Voices and the Male-Centric Literary Canon
A central theme in The Fraud is the systemic silencing of women, particularly in intellectual and literary circles, which reflects the broader societal erasure of female voices in Victorian England. Eliza Touchet’s life is intertwined with literature through her relationship with William Ainsworth, but her role is consistently minimized, even as she offers critical intellectual support to William’s career.
The literary salons she hosts are spaces where her voice is increasingly disregarded as she ages, highlighting how women’s perspectives are often dismissed as irrelevant over time. Although she becomes an influential part of William’s life and career, her own thoughts and contributions are sidelined, both by him and by society at large.
This erasure culminates in her decision to publish her book under a male pseudonym, mirroring the real-life experiences of many female authors of the period who felt forced to hide behind male names to be taken seriously. Smith critiques the male-centric literary canon and the long-standing tradition of silencing women’s contributions, demonstrating how female voices have been historically manipulated or ignored in favor of male narratives.
Eliza’s intellectual worth is persistently undermined, her creative potential smothered under the weight of Victorian gender norms. Her eventual triumph in writing a book serves as a muted victory, tainted by the fact that she cannot claim her own work under her name.
The Complexity of Moral Righteousness in a Racist Society
In The Fraud, Smith deftly examines the complex moral landscape of individuals navigating a racist society. Eliza Touchet’s growing obsession with Andrew Bogle and the Tichborne Claimant reveals the contradictions inherent in Victorian notions of morality and justice, particularly regarding race and class.
Although Eliza identifies with Bogle’s story of hardship and resilience, her admiration is tinged with subconscious biases that surface as the novel progresses. The moral righteousness Eliza feels as she delves into Bogle’s history exposes the tension between white liberal guilt and genuine empathy.
Eliza’s ultimate confrontation with Bogle’s son Henry serves as a moment of self-realization, where her own prejudices are laid bare. Her motivations for writing The Fraud are not entirely altruistic; she is, in many ways, appropriating Bogle’s story for her own intellectual and creative satisfaction.
Through Eliza’s arc, Smith raises difficult questions about who has the right to tell certain stories, especially stories of marginalized people. The novel illustrates how even those who perceive themselves as morally righteous can harbor deeply ingrained biases, revealing the insidious nature of racism and the difficulty of fully extricating oneself from the prejudices of one’s time.
The Perpetual Conflict Between Reality and Illusion in Personal and Public Life
The Fraud grapples with the theme of illusion, both in personal relationships and the broader public sphere. William Ainsworth’s career as a novelist and his obsessive need for literary fame represent the desire to craft an image that is often disconnected from reality.
His longing to be seen as a literary equal to Charles Dickens is a quest for validation that ultimately crumbles as his career falters and his reputation fades. His public persona, propped up by Eliza’s intellectual labor and the salon gatherings, contrasts sharply with his private life, where his irresponsibility, particularly regarding his family and personal relationships, leads to moral and emotional decay.
Similarly, the Tichborne Claimant case is the epitome of a public illusion that captures the imagination of the masses. Bogle, the claimant’s ally, helps perpetuate the illusion, though his motives are rooted in a complex personal history of displacement and disenfranchisement.
For the working-class supporters of the claimant, the illusion of his legitimacy offers a form of hope or rebellion against the rigid class structure of the time. In both the personal and public domains, characters in The Fraud engage in self-deception or become ensnared in illusions because the harshness of reality—be it social inequality, racial oppression, or personal failure—is too painful or difficult to confront directly.
Smith emphasizes that, while illusions may provide temporary solace or justification, they are ultimately unsustainable and crumble under the weight of truth.
The Exploitation and Commodification of Marginalized Stories
Smith also addresses the ethical dilemmas inherent in the commodification of marginalized stories for personal or professional gain. Eliza’s decision to write about Andrew Bogle and the Tichborne claimant brings into focus the question of ownership over narrative and the exploitation that can occur when someone from a more privileged position tells the story of a marginalized individual.
Eliza is fascinated by Bogle’s life, particularly because of how it resonates with her own feelings of displacement and her awareness of societal masks. Yet, her motivations for writing the book are questioned, both by Henry Bogle and the narrative itself, which exposes her subconscious racial biases.
Smith suggests that while Eliza may genuinely care about Bogle’s story, her position as a white woman in Victorian England complicates her authority to tell it. In her portrayal of this dynamic, Smith critiques the way marginalized voices are often co-opted by those with more social or intellectual capital, turning their stories into commodities that can be consumed by a broader audience.
The novel raises the uncomfortable truth that such stories are frequently exploited for profit or prestige, rather than out of a genuine desire for justice or understanding.