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Tipping the Velvet (Virago V) (Paperback)

by Sarah Waters (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Tipping the Velvet (Virago V) + Fingersmith + Affinity (Virago V)
Price For All Three: £14.72

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Product details

  • Paperback: 472 pages
  • Publisher: Virago Press Ltd; New edition edition (4 Mar 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1860495249
  • ISBN-13: 978-1860495243
  • Product Dimensions: 19 x 12.6 x 3.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 2,380 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #1 in  Books > Gay & Lesbian > Literature > Drama > Lesbian
    #1 in  Books > Fiction > Gay & Lesbian > Fiction General > Lesbian
    #3 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > W > Waters, Sarah

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
The heroine of Sarah Waters's audacious first novel knows her destiny, and seems content with it. Her place is in her father's seaside restaurant, shucking shellfish and stirring soup, singing all the while. "Although I didn't believe the story told to me by Mother--that they had found me as a baby in an oyster-shell, and a greedy customer had almost eaten me for lunch--for 18 years I never doubted my own oysterish sympathies, never looked beyond my father's kitchen for occupation, or for love." At night Nancy Astley often ventures to the nearby music hall, not that she has illusions of being more than an audience member. But the moment she spies a new male impersonator--still something of a curiosity in England circa 1888--her years of innocence come to an end and a life of transformations begins.

Tipping the Velvet, all 472 pages of it, is as saucy, as tantalising, and as touching as the narrator's first encounter with the seductive but shame-ridden Miss Kitty Butler. And at first even Nancy's family is thrilled with her gender-bending pal, all but her sister, best friend, and bedmate, Alice, "her eyes shining cold and dull, with starlight and suspicion". Not to worry. Soon Nancy and Kitty are off to London, their relationship close though (alas for our heroine) sisterly. We know that bliss will come, and it does, in an exceptionally charged moment. A lesser author would have been content to stop her story there, but Waters has much more in mind for her buttonholing heroine, and for us. In brief, her Everywoman with a sexual difference goes from success onstage to heartbreak to a stint as a male prostitute (necessity truly is the mother of invention) to keeping house for a brother and sister in the Labour movement. And did I mention her long stint as a plaything in the pleasure palace of a rich Sapphist extraordinaire? Diana Lethaby is as cruel as she is carnal, and even the well- concealed Cavendish Ladies' Club isn't outré enough for her. Kitting Nancy out in full, elegant drag, she dares the front desk to turn them away. "We are here," she mocks, "for the sake of the irregular."

Only after some seven years of hard twists and sensual turns does Nancy conclude that a life of sensation is not enough. Still, Tipping the Velvet is so entertaining that readers will wish her sentimental--and hedonistic--education had taken twice as long. --Kerry Fried, Amazon.com

Review
'An unstoppable read, a sexy and picaresque romp through the lesbian and queer demi-monde of the roaring Nineties. Could this be a new genre? The bawdy lesbian picaresque novel?' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 'This could be the most important debut of its kind since that of Jeanette Winterson' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'A delightful novel which sets a new standard for lesbian historical fiction, and should entice new readers to the genre' EMMA DONOGHUE

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Tipping the Velvet (Virago V)
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Customer Reviews

45 Reviews
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 (31)
4 star:
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3 star:
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2 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (45 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars im not an avid reader.....but this i loved!!, 15 Nov 2001
To say that this book is a "page turner" is the understatement of the year. Never have i enjoyed a novel so much,or been interested in the trails and tribulations of a character as i was in following Nans journey through her self discovery.
The sights and sounds of Victorian England literally jump off the page;the poverty and predudice,the awakening of sexuality so beautifully described and the heartbreak of loss and the aftermath so wonderfully handled.
If you intend to buy one book this year,as I did,Sarah Waters' first novel must be the one!
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A captivating read & a bawdy lesbian picaresque, 20 Dec 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Tipping the Velvet (Virago V) (Paperback)
This book is truly a captivating read! From the moment you meet 18-year old Nan, dreaming of the vaudeville at an English seaside resort in the 1880s, to the close of the book in London five years later, you love the story and don't want to put it down. A guilt-free coming-out story of a nineteenth century "tom" it's a romp and a delight to read. Full of eroticism and true love, as well as adventures on the stage and in high society plus some social politics. I was attracted to the novel by a review in The Online Mirror, which stated: "Imagine Jeanette Winterson, on a good day,collaborating with Judith Butler to pen a sapphic Moll Flanders. Could this be a new genre? The bawdy picaresque novel? Whatever it is, take it with you. It's gorgeous ." I agree! Now I'm looking forward to Sarah Waters' next novel!
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Bold, Bawdy, Beautiful Novel Of Victorian London!, 14 Feb 2005
By Jana L. Perskie "ceruleana" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
I was skeptical when I picked up "Tipping The Velvet" at a local bookstore. I do not like labels, and Sarah Waters's first novel had been touted by the press, and readers alike, as a "lesbian novel," whatever that means. However, the book's synopsis on the back cover, drew me in and I took a chance and bought it. I am so glad that I did. What a delight! This is a historical novel, set in a Victorian England that few have glimpsed. And "Tipping The Velvet" allows us to view it all, center stage. It is a story peopled with characters that are fleshed out so believably, it is almost like reading with 3-D glasses. The characters, especially Nancy Astley, come right off the page and have the capacity to touch your heart and make you care...deeply.

Nancy is born and raised in an English seaside resort where her parents own an oyster restaurant, and Nancy can shuck with the best of them. She seems perfectly content with her lot in life, loves her family and imagines that someday she will marry one of the neighborhood boys and have a family of her own. During the summer months, when business is booming, Nancy frequents a nearby town's music hall for entertainment. Thus Passion enters her life with a capital "P."

Nancy sees a male impersonator perform for the first time on an evening excursion to the hall. Not just any male impersonator...but the ever so seductive Miss Kitty Butler. Nance is entranced and obsessed with Kitty. She schemes to meet the object of her devotion and becomes first, Kitty's friend, then her employee/girl Friday. Her once normal life is turned topsy-turvy, filled with passionate fantasies. Her family is delighted with Kitty "the celebrity" friend, and accepts her completely. However, Alice, Nancy's sister, and until recently her best friend, is hostile and suspicious of the relationship between her sister and the performer. With the changing seasons, business falls off and Kitty is on the move. She takes Nancy with her to a newer and bigger gig in London, where our heroine loses her innocence, in more ways than one. Adventure, disillusionment and major heartbreak loom on the horizon for our Nancy - until she finds herself reaching rock bottom. If you don't know what "rock bottom," sometimes called "the pits," is in Victorian England, you may want to reread Dickens.

It takes seven years for Nancy to climb out of the pit she fell into, (or was she pushed?), and fashion a life for herself. Her attempts to earn a living wage are outrageous, fascinating and ingenious. The folks she meets along the way are absolute originals. The take on London's local color, sexual and socialist politics, and social and sexual mores are delicious.

Sarah Waters is an extraordinary writer and teller of tales. This is so much more than a book about a woman's sexuality...although sexuality is an important aspect of the novel. Ms. Waters writes about the fight for selfhood and independence in a world where these terms mean little, especially for a female. I just couldn't put this one down and look forward to reading more work by Ms. Waters. I give this my most highly recommended seal of approval!!!
JANA

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars disappointed
This is the first time I have received anything through Amazon that has not been first class, even though the book came from someone else. Read more
Published 2 months ago by G. Lindley

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful romatic drama on victorian era
Story of girl who fall in love to theather acress, and eventualy become her lover and companion. But life hit hard and their love broke and girl must found new love... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Eero Salonen

1.0 out of 5 stars Drivel
This book is awful. I wish I hadn't bought it, its not worth the money. My main is issue is with the protagonist, Nancy. Read more
Published 3 months ago by L. Wotherpoon

5.0 out of 5 stars ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!
This was the first book by Sarah Waters that I read (back in 2002) and I have come to love her writing style which has seen me read all her books. Read more
Published 4 months ago by SMC

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
I loved this book, a real page turner. I hadnt read any of Sarah Waters' novels before, neither had I seen the TV adaptation. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mr Ryan Firmstone

5.0 out of 5 stars A revelation
To be honest, I was dreading reading this novel. I hated the television adaptation and the only reason I did read it is because a friend let me a pile of fiction, it was the last... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Aunty Pog

5.0 out of 5 stars Lip Bitingly good
My Sarah waters virginity was lost with "Fingersmith" (which i adored), so i naturally moved onto Tipping the Velvet. Read more
Published 10 months ago by The Chosen One

5.0 out of 5 stars I feel I grew up with these two young women
By Mr. W. Dover "aspiring nobody" (Duesseldorf, Germany) - See all my reviews


This story just takes you right inside the lives of two young women living... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Mr. W. Dover

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read
It's reputation as a Victorian lesbian bodice ripper having preceded it, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Tipping the Velvet. Read more
Published 21 months ago by BookWorm

5.0 out of 5 stars A Lesbo-Victorian Romp
...as jokingly described by Sarah Waters herself. But oh how much more than that it is. The story is that of Nan Astley, a young and naive oyster girl who falls in love with... Read more
Published 22 months ago by S. Rankin

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