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In Rome she found excitement, inspiration, and love: a group of artists and writers who would become lifelong friends, and a man – Charles Norton – who would become the love of Mrs Gaskell’s life, though they would never be together.   In 2013, Nell Stevens is embarking on her Ph.D. – about the community of artists and writers living in Rome in the mid-nineteenth century – and falling drastically in love with a man who lives in another city. As Nell chases her heart around the world, and as Mrs Gaskell forms the greatest connection of her life, these two women, though centuries apart, are drawn together.   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In 2013, Nell Stevens is writing about Mrs Gaskell in Rome, and falling drastically in love with a man who lives in another city altogether. As Nell chases her heart around the world, and as Mrs Gaskell forms the greatest connection of her life, these two women, though centuries apart, are drawn together, and for Nell, Mrs Gaskell becomes more than a figure from the past. Here is a confidante, a friend, a woman who – living outside the conventions of her time – might have some wisdom to offer Nell.  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It seems that there is nowhere Nell can run--an island or the pages of her notebook--to escape the big questions of love, art and ambition. \u003cbr\u003e Terrifically smart, full of wry writing advice, and with a clever puzzle of a structure, \u003ci\u003eBleaker House\u003c\/i\u003e marks the arrival of a fresh new voice in creative nonfiction.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49728462225681,"sku":"CIN0385541554G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50689301676305,"sku":"CIN0385541554VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0385541554.jpg?v=1751072450"},{"product_id":"briefly-a-delicious-life-book-nell-stevens-9781982190941","title":"Briefly, a Delicious Life","description":"\u003cb\u003e*A \u003ci\u003eCosmopolitan\u003c\/i\u003e Best Book of Summer * One of \u003ci\u003eBuzzFeed\u003c\/i\u003e's Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Books*\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eAn \"exquisite...too lovely to bear\" (\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e) debut novel from an award-winning writer: a playful and daring tale about a teenage ghost who falls in love with the writer George Sands.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e In 1473, fourteen-year-old Blanca dies in a hilltop monastery in Mallorca. 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Nell gets to work on a charming Dickensian fiction she calls \u003ci\u003eBleaker House\u003c\/i\u003e--only to discover that total isolation and 1,085 calories a day are far from ideal conditions for literary production. With deft humor, the memoir traces Nell's island days and slowly reveals details of the life and people she has left behind in pursuit of her writing. They pop up in her novel, too, and in other fictional pieces that dot the book. It seems that there is nowhere Nell can run--an island or the pages of her notebook--to escape the big questions of love, art and ambition. \u003cbr\u003e Terrifically smart, full of wry writing advice, and with a clever puzzle of a structure, \u003ci\u003eBleaker House\u003c\/i\u003e marks the arrival of a fresh new voice in creative nonfiction.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50372151804177,"sku":"CIN1101972866G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51019314331921,"sku":"NIN9781101972861","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1101972866.jpg?v=1750950825"},{"product_id":"original-book-nell-stevens-9781398533387","title":"The Original","description":"Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize 2026 A Finalist in the Nota Bene Prize 2026  ‘Casually magisterial’ Guardian  'Endlessly intriguing' Observer  ‘A marvel of a novel’ Ali Smith  ‘Jane Eyre by way of Patricia Highsmith’ BBC Radio 4  ‘Puts Stevens in the class of Sarah Waters’ Financial Times  ‘There was a painting my family set on fire. It burned to ashes, and then it came back.’  Oxfordshire, 1899. Grace Inderwick grows up on the peripheries of a once-great household, an unwanted guest in her uncle’s home. She has unusual skills and unusual predilections: for painting, though faces elude her; for lurking in the shadows; for other girls.   Then a letter arrives, postmarked Saint Helena. 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 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 decide who and what to believe in, and what kind of life she wants to live.   Deftly-plotted and shimmering with Nell Stevens’s distinctive 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.  'What a bewitching book this is. A sinuous, thrilling meditation on fakes and forgers, with echoes of Daphne du Maurier and Sarah Waters and an audacity that is totally original to Nell Stevens herself' Olivia Laing, author of THE GARDEN AGAINST TIME  'Deliciously engaging and wildly intelligent. I adored this novel about art, authenticity and desire and am a devoted fan of Nell Stevens' Ayşegül Savaş, author of THE ANTHROPOLOGISTS  'A delightful, playful puzzle of a novel, and a brilliant twist on the nineteenth century orphan-makes-good story. THE ORIGINAL asks whether, sometimes, faking it is the right thing to do' Claire Fuller, author of UNSETTLED GROUND  'A wonderful novel about identity, creativity, money and belonging. It's so witty and propulsive you will forget how brilliantly constructed it is, this tale that brims with the beauty of art, of how to triumph in a difficult world. I absolutely loved it' Jessie Burton, author of THE MINIATURIST","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51626992926993,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51626993090833,"sku":"NGR9781398533387","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51626993156369,"sku":"GOR014293875","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52327279395089,"sku":"NLS9781398533387","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52724985200913,"sku":"GOR014599679","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52901243158801,"sku":"GOR014655525","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1398533386.jpg?v=1751428327"},{"product_id":"original-book-nell-stevens-9781324110699","title":"The Original","description":"In a grand English country house in 1899, an aspiring art forger must unravel whether the man claiming to be her long-lost cousin is an impostor.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51720814199057,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51720815182097,"sku":"CIN1324110694VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51730893144337,"sku":"NIN9781324110699","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51818859528465,"sku":"CIN1324110694G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ LIKE_NEW \/ SBYB","offer_id":52994995290385,"sku":"CIN1324110694LN","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1324110694.jpg?v=1766140011"},{"product_id":"original-book-nell-stevens-9781324130697","title":"The Original","description":"Brought to her uncle’s decaying Oxfordshire estate when she was a child, Grace has grown up on the periphery of a once-great household, an outsider in her own home. Now a self-possessed and secretive young woman, she has developed unusual predilections: for painting, particularly forgery; for deception; for other girls.   As Grace cultivates her talent as a copyist, she realizes that her uncanny ability to recreate paintings might offer her a means of escape. Secretly, she puts this skill to use as an art forger, creating fake masterpieces in candlelit corners of the estate. Saving the money she makes from her sales, she plans a new life far from the family that has never seemed to want her.   Then, a letter arrives from the South Atlantic. The writer claims to be her cousin Charles, long presumed dead at sea, who wishes to reconnect with his family. When Charles returns, Grace’s aunt welcomes him with open arms; yet fractures appear in the household. Some believe he is who he says he is. Others are convinced he’s an impostor. As a court date looms to determine his legitimacy—and his claim to the family fortune—Grace must decide what she believes, and what she’s willing to risk.   Is Charles really her cousin? An interloper? A mirror of her own ambitions? And in a house built on illusions, what does authenticity truly mean—in art, in love, and in family?   Deftly plotted and shimmering with Nell Stevens’s distinctive intelligence, style, and wit, The Original takes readers on an unforgettable adventure through a world of forgeries, family ties, and the fluctuations in fortune that can change our fate.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52628651671825,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":52628652425489,"sku":"NGR9781324130697","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781324130697.jpg?v=1766139737"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-ie\/collections\/author-books-by-nell-stevens.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}