Publication Date: May 6, 2025
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.
When an eager journalist shows up to interview a famous painter, it triggers a series of events that will impact everyone living in the remote house in the French countryside.
Author Lucy Steeds serves up a thought-provoking story in The Artist and the Feast. It is told in alternating viewpoints by Ettie, the artist’s niece, and Joseph, the journalist.
Edouard Tartuffe’s genius comes with a wretched personality that bounces between rage and silence. Poor Ettie’s freedom is tied to her uncle’s demands and whims. However, underneath her quiet personality is a cauldron of emotion ready to boil over.
It’s not until Joseph interrupts the routine that cracks begin to appear in Ettie’s facade. Ultimately, her sacrifices will lay the foundation for an unexpected yet completely deserved future.
While on the surface the story may appear simple, readers will find multiple points to consider, whether it’s the relationship between Ettie and her uncle, the strange visions Joseph sees or the role art plays in allowing the characters to express their feelings.
The Artist and the Feast offers a twisted sense of justice for all who have sacrificed their creativity.
Lucy Steeds is a novelist and a graduate of the Faber Academy and the London Library Emerging Writers Programme. She has a BA in English Literature and a Masters in World Literatures from the University of Oxford. She has lived in London, Paris, Amsterdam and Singapore. The Artist and the Feast is her first novel.
