The Artist and the Feast, Lucy Steeds
The Artist and the Feast, Lucy Steeds
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The Artist and the Feast

Author: Lucy Steeds

Narrator: Tanya Reynolds

Unabridged: 11 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/06/2025


Synopsis

Longlisted for the 2025 Women's Prize for Fiction, 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.​
​       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.

Fans of Sarah Winman’s Still Life and Paula McClain’s The Paris Wife will be enchanted by this compelling novel.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Magdalena on August 28, 2024

A fantastic book—layered, deep, and beautifully written. A must-read for 2025. The Artist is a story set in 1920 France, told from two perspectives: Joseph, a young British journalist who arrives in a Provençal village to write an article about a renowned yet enigmatic painter, Eduard Tartuffe, and......more

Goodreads review by Hannah on March 18, 2025

If you enjoy quiet, slow-burn romances, this is the book for you. More thoughts soon... ORIGINAL POST 👇 Delighted to see this nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction, as it was already on my wish list. Just ordered it from blackwells.com because it's not out until May in the States (where it's tit......more

Goodreads review by Kate W on September 21, 2024

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.......more

Goodreads review by Carl on March 20, 2025

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2025 "Here was the man who could create beauty from nothing. Here was an artist who had dined with Van Gogh and argued with Cezanne, Who had expanded the boundaries of paint and colour and light itself." This evocative quote sets the stage for Lucy Steeds'......more

Goodreads review by Dawn on April 15, 2025

This book (as The Ministry of Time did in 2024 and in Memoriam did in 2023) has set the benchmark for the year for 5 star books! For the rest of the year I will be asking myself 'is it as good as The Artist?' before I dish out the 5 stars. It was just so beautifully written and conjures up immediate......more


Quotes

"Tanya Reynolds gives this stunning novel a luminous performance...the audiobook starts slowly, gathering momentum until it smashes into its inevitable shocking yet satisfying conclusion."—AudioFile Magazine