MOTHER'S DAY SPECIALS! SHOW ME MORE

Close Notification

Your cart does not contain any items

The Artist

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2025

Lucy Steeds Tanya Reynolds

$49.99

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

QTY:

English
John Murray Publishers Ltd
30 January 2025
LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2025

A RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME IN APRIL

'A blaze of a book, poetic, passionate and quietly powerful' Daily Mail

'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

'Dextrous and powerful . . . a hugely accomplished portrait of ambition and self-fulfilment' Guardian

'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' The Times

'This compelling, evocative debut will transport you to idyllic, sun-drenched Provence in 1920 . . . An absorbing, poetic read' Mail on Sunday

'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
*
*BEST BOOKS FOR 2025 from Stylist and Good Housekeeping
*
*

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.

'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

'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

'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

'A furiously rom
By:  
Read by:  
Imprint:   John Murray Publishers Ltd
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 236mm,  Width: 162mm,  Spine: 34mm
Weight:   500g
ISBN:   9781399819565
ISBN 10:   1399819569
Pages:   304
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  ELT Advanced ,  Primary
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active

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.

Reviews for The Artist: LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2025

Sensuous and brooding * Bookseller * 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 The Artist is an intoxicating tale of creativity, possession and freedom told by the alternate voices of a young English writer and a French woman who have been drawn into the orbit of a celebrated but reclusive artist. As they circle around him during one hot summer in Provence, both his secrets and theirs slowly come into the light. This is a compelling, beautifully textured and impressively assured debut about the risks we take to get what we want, a novel 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


  • Long-listed for Women's Prize for Fiction 2025 (UK)

See Also