LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
I was gifted a copy of this stunning debut novel for Christmas last year, so it is a recent read for me, but it will stay with me for a very long time. It is set in a beautifully drawn rural 1920’s Provence, where the echoes of the first world war still resound.
Joseph, an aspiring art journalist travels to a remote farmhouse deep in the sweltering hot countryside on the invitation of the famous, reclusive and volatile Tartuffe, to watch him work. He hopes this will be the making of him. There he encounters the silent and mysterious artist’s niece, Ettie, and a house filled with mystery and secrets.
As the story unfolds and secrets are uncovered, every page is filled with atmosphere and light, a slow burning, simmering romance, and an undercurrent of female rage.
The book is achingly beautifully written. So evocative of Provence, art, colour, and the slow life of rural 1920's France, and the painful, twisted affairs of the human heart. An amazing book by a truly talented writer and can't wait to read what she writes next.
Guest Editor Louise Fein
LoveReading
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About
The Artist Synopsis
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.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781399819589 |
| Publication date: |
28th May 2026 |
| Author: |
Lucy Steeds |
| Publisher: |
John Murray an imprint of John Murray Press |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
306 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Historical Fiction
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| Other Genres: |
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Press Reviews
Lucy Steeds Press Reviews
'Lucy Steeds transports the reader with her sensuous depictions of food, art, and landscape . . . an assured and atmospheric debut about creativity, female agency, and the legacy of war' Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent
'A furiously romantic, sun-drenched mystery about the violent power of good art. The Artist will leave you yearning in every sense of the word' Yael van der Wouden, author of The Safekeep
'An intoxicating tale of creativity, possession and freedom. A compelling, beautifully textured and impressively assured debut which asks questions about all those who are painted over by history' Joanna Quinn, author of The Whalebone Theatre
'Gorgeous . . . Steeped in the heat and atmosphere of 1920s Provence, this novel brims with intrigue, hope and yearning. The questions it asks will linger with me: about authenticity, about what it means to be an artist and to long to leave a mark on the world' 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
'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
Author
About Lucy Steeds
Lucy is a graduate of both the Faber Academy and the London Library Emerging Writers Programme. She began writing The Artist while living in France, and currently splits her time between London and Amsterdam. The Artist has been listed for the BPA First Novel Award, the Yeovil Literary Prize, the Page Turner Awards, the Fiction Factory First Chapter Competition, and was a Finalist in the Spotlight First Novel Award and the Moniack Mhor Emerging Writer Award. Lucy herself has synaesthesia and uses this to play with ways of translating images into words. She has a BA in English Literature and a Masters in World Literatures from the University of Oxford.
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