The Artist and the Feast

 By: Lucy Steeds  

Location: FIC STE

Genre: Historical Fiction

“Most people only ever see what they want to see.”​

"A luminous story of seeing and being seen. You can almost taste the peaches and honey, almost touch the thick paint and sweating skin. A joy to read with a cracking, crackling end."

The Artist and the Feast is a captivating novel of love, art, food, desire and thwarted ambition, which builds propulsively over one scorching French summer in 1920s Provence.

During a scorching summer in 1920s Provence, a young journalist, Joseph Adelaide, turns up at the farmhouse of reclusive artist Edouard Tartuffe, hoping to write an article about him. There, he meets Ettie, Tartuffe’s niece, who appears to do everything for her uncle—from cooking and cleaning to catering to his maniacal moods. Joseph is beguiled by where he finds himself, not just by this foreign place or Tartuffe himself, but by Ettie, who watches everything so quietly from the periphery. Both Joseph and Ettie carry scars from their pasts and it’s as they get to know each other that they start to lay bare those scars to themselves and to each other.​
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As the summer wears on, and as new ideas and passions are explored, Joseph, Ettie, and Tartuffe are propelled toward a finale that reveals long-held secrets and sets the world on fire.

"A captivating novel of love, art, food, desire and thwarted ambition, which builds propulsively over one scorching French summer in 1920s Provence."
Set against the backdrop of post World War I France, Joseph Adelaide is a journalist who travels to Provence to observe and write about legendary painter Edouard Tartuffe whose niece Ettie lives with him and caters to his every whim. Tartuffe is controlling with an explosive temper and volatile personality. He has raised Ettie since she was seven years old. Both Joseph and Ettie are struggling from the ramifications of their experiences during the Great War.

This novel is an artist's masterpiece, and Lucy Steeds brilliantly paints her canvas using words and paper. She creates beautiful imagery and engages all your senses. You can see the paintings, taste and smell the food and gardens, feel the surroundings, and hear everything going on in the scene. The prose and narrative is lush, evocative, emotional, and riveting with richly drawn characters. It is a feast for the senses. I was completely immersed in the story and characters. Themes of love and desire, art and ambition, freedom, and women's place in society are brilliantly explored. It's one of the best books I've read this year! I highly recommend this must-read novel! Lucy Steeds, you have set the world on fire and I am here for whatever you write!- Shantha