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<p><b>WINNER OF THE WATERSTONES DEBUT PRIZE 2025 </b><br><b>LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2025 </b><br><b>A RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME </b><br><br><b>'A furiously romantic, sun-drenched mystery . . . <i>The Artist</i> will leave you yearning in every sense of the word' Yael van der Wouden, author of <i>The Safekeep</i></b><br><br><b>'<i>The Artist</i> 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' <i>The Times</i></b><br><br><b>'Dextrous and powerful</b> . . . <b>a hugely accomplished portrait of ambition and self-fulfilment' <i>Guardian</i></b><br><br><b>'The year's most lauded debut novelist . . . A sultry, headily perfumed portrait of monstrous male egos and oppressed overlooked women . . . <i>The Artist</i> uncovers its secrets by stealth' <i>Telegraph</i></b><br><br><b>'A blaze of a book, poetic, passionate and quietly powerful' <i>Daily Mail</i></b><br><b><br>'This compelling, evocative debut will transport you to idyllic, sun-drenched Provence in 1920 . . . </b><b>An absorbing, poetic read' <i>Mail on Sunday</i></b><br><br><b>'Captivating . . . with imagery as lush as an oil painting' <i>Washington Post</i></b><br><b><br>'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' <i>Good Housekeeping</i></b><br><br><b>**BEST BOOKS FOR 2025 from <i>Stylist </i>and <i>Good Housekeeping**</i></b><br><br>PROVENCE, 1920<br><br>Ettie moves through the remote farmhouse, silently creating the conditions that make her uncle's artistic genius possible.<br><br>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.<br><br>But everyone has their secrets. And, under the cover of darkness, Ettie has spent years cultivating hers.<br><br>Over this sweltering