Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10639 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 560 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Fingersmith is the third slice of engrossing lesbian Victoriana from Sarah Waters. Although lighter and more melodramatic in tone than its predecessor Affinity, this hypnotic suspense novel is awash with all manner of gloomy Dickensian leitmotifs: pickpockets; orphans; grim prisons; lunatic asylums; "laughing villains" and, of course, "stolen fortunes and girls made out to be mad". Oliver Twist (which is mentioned on the opening page), The Woman in White and The Prince and the Pauper all exert an influence on it but none overawe. Like Peter Ackroyd, Waters has an uncanny gift for inventive reconstruction.

Divided into three parts, the tale is narrated by two orphaned girls whose lives are inextricably linked. It begins in a grimy thieves kitchen in Borough, South London with 17-year-old orphan Susan Trinder. She has been raised by Mrs Sucksby, a cockney Ma Baker, in a household of fingersmiths (pickpockets), coiners and burglars. One evening Richard "Gentleman" Rivers, a handsome confidence man, arrives. He has an elaborate scheme to defraud Maud Lilly, a wealthy heiress. If Sue will help him she'll get a share of the "shine". Duly installed in the Lillys' country house as Maud's maid, Sue finds that her mistress is virtually a prisoner. Maud's eccentric Uncle Christopher, an obsessive collector of erotica (loosely modelled on Henry Spenser Ashbee) controls every aspect of her life. Slowly a curious intimacy develops between the two girls and as Gentleman's plans take shape, Sue begins to have doubts. The scheme is finally hatched but as Maud commences her narrative it suddenly becomes more than a tad difficult to tell quite who has double-crossed who. Waters' penchant for Byzantine plotting can get a bit exhausting but even at its densest moments--and remember this is smoggy London circa 1862--it remains mesmerising. A damning critique of Victorian moral and sexual hypocrisy, a gripping melodrama and a love story to boot, this book ingeniously reworks some truly classic themes.--Travis Elborough

Review
'It is a rare pleasure to discover a writer as assured as Waters' Joan Smith, Sunday Times 'A chilling, ingenious erotic thriller - unputdownable' Sunday Express 'Sarah Waters is one of the best storytellers alive today.sooner or later she's going to be given the Booker' Matt Thorne, Independent on Sunday 'An extraordinarily good novel' Douglas Kennedy, Mail on Sunday

This novel, whose narrative centres around the difference between faked and genuine wooing, is itself irresistibly seductive. It is 1862 and Susan, a teenage 'fingersmith' brought up in a Southwark thieves' kitchen, describes how she is recruited by a gentlemanly rogue to take part in a plot involving a young heiress living a nightmarish existence in a big country-house. The heiress, Maud, is being exploited and ill-treated by her uncle. (The true nature of that exploitation is revealed only much later in one of the novel's ingenious surprises.) The plan is that Susan will become Maud's maid and help the rogue to seduce her, elope with and marry her, get his hands on her fortune, and then disembarrass himself of her. Light-heartedly the girl plunges into her role in this nefarious undertaking, overcoming her scruples for a share of the fortune. All is not as it seems, however, and there is a stunning surprise in store for her and the reader. But the novel is concerned with more than just plot twists. For in spite of the adversarial roles they are playing and across the barriers of birth, education, and wealth, the two girls find they are powerfully drawn to each other. As the novel unfolds, those barriers will turn out to be illusory in various ways as the power of love - maternal as well as sexual - shows itself able to defy convention, to defeat conspiracies, to forgive wrongs and even to make possible the ultimate sacrifice. With a melodramatic situation as a metaphor for a psychological and moral conundrum and with a liberal sprinkling of plots, impersonations, madhouses, heiresses, and dramatic revelations, we are clearly in Wilkie Collins territory. That aspect of the novel is done extremely well and the narrative tension is maintained with only a slight faltering towards the end. But the author takes advantage of modern freedom to explore aspects of sexuality that a Victorian novelist could barely hint at and in doing so intriguingly illuminates a historical reality which the fiction of that period largely ignores. This is a gripping and a thought-provoking novel. Review by Charles Palliser (Kirkus UK)

Docklands and City of London Recorder
"Buy it or borrow it - but do yourself a favour, and read it."

Customer Reviews

One of my all-time favourites
I saved this book to read when I was on holiday because I couldn't think of another author that writes so well with such gripping narrative -- a very rare combination in my experience. The one thing I like about Waters' characters is that they are rounded -- they have their bad side as well as their good side. I enjoyed the television adaptation, which I saw before reading the novel but this didn't mar my enjoyment because, of course, there is so much more to enjoy. A fun, gripping, believable-ish tale which was thoroughly enjoyable.

enthralling reading
From beginning to end this novel is engaging. Having only read one other of hers (Tipping The Velvet) I will certainly be going on to read her others. It's easy enough to find out plot details about this so I won't go into that. What I will say is that her writing style is fantastic. I was pleased not to have known anything about the novel before I read it, as I do believe any spoilers will impact upon your enjoyment. All you need to know is that all of the characters are fabulous, evocative narrative really pulls you into Victorian London.

The time is 1862 and we are with a mix of characters from all classes. The way Waters moves between the different strata's of society is impressive, making the journey both enjoyable and knowledgeable. Even the way the characters speak is entertaining and you find yourself supporting both Lilly and Maud at different times. I can't wait to read more by Sarah Waters and can thoroughly recommend this. You won't be able to put it down.

Unputdownable
This was a fabulous read - one of the best novels which I have read for a long, long while.
It starts off simply enough with the protagonist Sue Trinder leading us gently into her warm but villanous life with Mrs Sucksby in the slums of Victorian London. However, with the arrival of Gentleman, the plot kicks in and we are taken to a sinister old house 40 miles outside of the city, where much of the narrative takes place.
So far, so good. Waters' writing weaves a spell on us as readers, and I began to feel comfortable, settling into well-written, familiar territory, and very happy to be there. However, with the end of part one came one of the most unexpected twists I have ever come across, and from then on I could not put this novel down - how would this be resolved? was the main question now on my mind.
From start to finish this novel never once fails to please, and I would absolutely recommend it.