Fingersmith: shortlisted for the Booker Prize - Softcover

Waters, Sarah

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1860498833 ISBN 13: 9781860498831

Publisher: Virago Press, 2003

Synopsis

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 IS BORN SUE'S FATE IS LINKED TO THAT OF ANOTHER ORPHAN GROWING UP IN A GLOOMY MANSION NOT TOO MANY MILES AWAY.

About this title

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." Divided into three parts, the tale is narrated by two orphaned girls whose lives are inextricably linked. Waters's 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 mesmerizing. 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, Amazon.co.uk

About the Author:

Sarah Waters is the New York Times–bestselling author of The Paying Guests, The Little Stranger,The Night Watch, Fingersmith, Affinity, and Tipping the Velvet. She has three times been short-listed for the Man Booker Prize, has twice been a finalist for the Orange Prize, and was named one of Granta’s best young British novelists, among other distinctions. Waters lives in London.

About this edition

• Publisher: Virago Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1860498833
• ISBN 13: 9781860498831
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 560