Fingersmith [Hardcover]

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

The prize-winning author of Tipping the Velvet and Affinity has produced a new novel full of dark secrets as well as insanity and erotic love. Sue Trinder, orphaned at birth and brought up by fingersmiths (petty thieves) becomes part of a complex scam to obtain a fortune when she is 17. It involves her in becoming a lady's maid - these are Dickensian times - and it is not long before things start to go very wrong. She becomes involved with another orphan growing up in a gloomy country mansion. It is an extraordinarily vivid story which conjures up a brilliant picture of the period.

'Her sense of the past is acute, but never inhibits the free flow of invention or emotion … Brilliant'

'Waters certainly matches [Wilkie] Collins for cleverness and chicanery of plot. The double crosses are superbly contrived and entirely unexpected'

'Her books bulge with period detail yet she also puts what’s only ever hinted at in Victorian novels – drug addiction, sexuality, pornography – right up front'

'Waters' spellbinding tightly plotted tale of love and deception grabs your attention right to its dramatic and deeply satisfying conclusion'

‘A gripping study of wickedness and depravity, set in 1852’.
‘Brilliant and chilling storytelling’.

‘A gripping tale of greed, betrayal and repressed emotions.’
‘Full of surprises and excellent descriptive passages.’

‘I am in the hands of a master storyteller ... Her pacing is faultless. Her description ... is memorably good.’

‘Gripping and colourful’

Set in a den of thieves in 1860's London, this novel focuses on Susan, a pickpocket, who is persuaded by her cohorts to pose as a lady's maid and infiltrate the household of Maud, a young heiress in possession of a large inheritance.

From the celebrated author of Tipping the Velvet and Affinity comes an extraordinary, ingenious tale of fraud, insanity and secrets.

London 1862. Sue Trinder, orphaned at birth, grows up among petty thieves - fingersmiths - under the rough but loving care of Mrs Sucksby and her 'family'. But from the moment she draws breath, Sue's fate is linked to that of another orphan growing up in a gloomy mansion not too many miles away.

'Sarah Waters is one of the best storytellers alive today . . .'

Matt Thorne, Independent on Sunday

'Intensely atmospheric, impeccably paced, and cunningly structured, this is that rarity in contemporary fiction: a deeply serious novel that is also a thumping great read'

Douglas Kennedy, Mail on Sunday

'There are always novels that you envy people for not yet having read, for the pleasure they still have to come. Well, this is one. Long, dark, twisted and satisfying, it's a fabulous piece of writing . . . an unforgettable experience'

Julie Myerson, Guardian

Winner of The CWA Ellis Peters Dagger for Historical Crime Fiction

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Sarah Waters was born in Wales in 1966. She has a Ph.D in English Literature and has published articles on lesbian and gay writing and cultural history. Her first novel, Tipping the Velvet, won a 1999 Betty Trask award. For Affinity, she was awarded the Somerset Maughm prize and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year 2000.