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.

‘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

‘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