# The Artist Winner of the Waterstones Debut Prize by Lucy Steeds (Hardback)

**SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2025**  
**LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2025**  
**A RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME IN APRIL**  
  
**'_The Artist_ 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' _The Times_**  
  
**'Dextrous and powerful** . . . **a hugely accomplished portrait of ambition and self-fulfilment' _Guardian_**  
  
**'The year's most lauded debut novelist . . . A sultry, headily perfumed portrait of monstrous male egos and oppressed overlooked women . . . _The Artist_ uncovers its secrets by stealth' _Telegraph_**  
  
**'A blaze of a book, poetic, passionate and quietly powerful' _Daily Mail_**  
**  
'This compelling, evocative debut will transport you to idyllic, sun-drenched Provence in 1920 . . .****An absorbing, poetic read' _Mail on Sunday_**  
  
**'Captivating . . . with imagery as lush as an oil painting' _Washington Post_**  
**  
'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' _Good Housekeeping_**  
  
**\*\*BEST BOOKS FOR 2025 from _Stylist_ and _Good Housekeeping\*\*_**  
  
PROVENCE, 1920  
  
Ettie moves through the remote farmhouse, silently creating the conditions that make her uncle's artistic genius possible.  
  
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.  
  
But everyone has their secrets. And, under the cover of darkness, Ettie has spent years cultivating hers.  
  
Over this sweltering summer, everyone's true colours will be revealed.  
**  
Because Ettie is ready to be seen.  
Even if it means setting her world on fire.**  
  
  
**'A furiously romantic, sun-drenched mystery . . . _The Artist_ will leave you yearning in every sense of the word' Yael van der Wouden, author of _The Safekeep_**  
  
**'Lucy Steeds transports the reader with her sensuous depictions of food, art, and landscape . . . an assured and atmospheric debut' Sarah Perry, author of _The Essex Serpent_**  
  
**'An intoxicating tale of creativity, possession and freedom. An impressively assured debut which asks questions about all those who are painted over by history' Joanna Quinn, author of _The Whalebone Theatre_**  
  
**'I could not love this beautiful novel more . . . the final chapters left me with that delicious heart-bursting feeling, full of hope and delight' Florence Knapp, author of _The Names_**  
  
**'Gorgeous . . . Steeped in the heat and atmosphere of 1920s Provence, this novel brims with intrigue, hope and yearning' Elizabeth Macneal, author of _The Doll Factory_ and _The Burial Plot_**  
**  
'Phenomenal . . . beautiful, pacey historical fiction, vividly realised. It drifts with the scent of summer, the land lit up and throbbing, the food piled high and richly painted, the paint as thick and buttery as food. I wanted to eat it. Yes, I even wanted to eat the paint. Read this book!' Seth Insua, author of _Human, Animal_**

## Details

- **Price:** 9.99 GBP
- **Vendor:** Hodder & Stoughton
- **Tags:** All Books, Romance, Thrillers

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 9.99 GBP | In stock |

## Images

- The Artist Winner of the Waterstones Debut Prize by Lucy Steeds (Hardback)

---

> Source: [Somiibooks](https://somiibooks.com/products/the-artist-winner-of-the-lucy-steeds-9781399819589)
> Updated: 2026-09-18