Fingersmith

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Sarah Waters: Fingersmith (2002)

548 pages

Published Feb. 12, 2002

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5 stars (3 reviews)

Fingersmith is a 2002 historical crime novel set in Victorian-era Britain by Sarah Waters.

6 editions

A fabulous pastiche

5 stars

Set in Victorian era London the novel is a wickedly fabulous pastiche of the overly melodramatic literary style of the period and includes one of the best plot twists I have read in ages. Waters has created a varied cast of Dickensian characters, none of whom I would trust as far as I could throw them, and I also loved her scene-setting. The faded glamour of Briar House, the dingy terrace of Lant Street, and the terrors of the asylum all became very real as I kept reading. My favourite part of Fingersmith was the dual viewpoint. Seeing scenes that we thought we already knew, but now through a completely different lens provided great tension and I appreciated how each character had a distinctive voice so it was easy to follow their take on the story. Occasionally Fingersmith did feel a tad overlong, but generally the writing kept to a …

Review of 'Fingersmith' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Going into reading this, all I knew about was that Sarah Waters writes historical novels with lesbians in them, so what's not to love (if you're me)? The story surprised me a bit, because it was waaaay gloomier than expected.

17-year old Sue Trinder is a fingersmith, a thief in Victorian London. An orphan, she is living in the house of Mrs. Sucksby who 'farms' babies for money, taking in orphans and selling them. Sue loves the folks at the house like a family, and Mrs. Sucksby is like a mother to her. One of the scoundrels at the house comes up with a daring plan to get married to an heiress with the help of her lady's maid and then have the wife sent off to an asylum so that he and the maid can split the inheritance between them. Sue agrees to be the lady's maid and travels …