A young woman with creative ambitions is obliged to care for her uncle, a famous painter, in an accomplished debut set in 1920s Provence

Artistic patriarchs who wreak emotional havoc on their families have provided rich literary rewards in recent years. Charlotte Mendelson examined the artistic tyrant in The Exhibitionist, while Rachel Joyce’s forthcoming The Homemade God portrays the psychological dysfunction of four siblings whose problems stem from their father, a domineering painter.

Lucy Steeds’s impressive debut, set in 1920, embraces a similar theme. The patriarch in question is a renowned but doggedly private artist, Edouard Tartuffe (Tata), who lives in Provence with his seemingly timid and obedient niece, Ettie. Many years previously, Ettie’s mother ran away with a lover, became pregnant and, later, suffered a tragically early death: “Ettie cannot remember her mother’s face. It is one of the things that pains her most, makes her clutch her stomach at odd moments.” In the care of her uncle for as long as she can remember, Ettie keeps house for him, cooks his meals, and procures and arranges the various ephemera required for his paintings.