It’s a lot of ugliness to wade through for known plot points. It’s hard to say whether these sections go on too long-they certainly felt too long, but I wonder how much of this was because I was rereading the book and already knew the key information. Waters wants to portray a nasty, gritty version of London and some details are stomach-turning. This time, I skimmed the particularly distressing scenes in the madhouse. The first time I read Fingersmith, I read both of these sections quickly but closely. Once the reader makes it though a long section of a character’s disturbing childhood, they’re shown the hellish interior of an old-timey madhouse. Many things could have been left to the imagination, but Waters is all about the tiny details. The first 184 pages are an easy read, but the pace flags when the twist is followed with a flashback that spends time in some very dark territory. contains an epic twist that simultaneously makes the book brilliant and slows the action to a crawl. It’s a tricky book to review because it almost feels like it’s two books in one volume (and not just because it’s 600 pages). It’s more entertaining than most of the winners, though, which leads me to believe that it lost for being too readable, too hard to put down. It contains enough literary and historical heft that it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2002. I shall need Sue by her to keep her simple and to persuade her, in her simpleness, into the plot.” (28-29)įingersmith is set in the mid-1800s and full of Victorian sensibility and style.

Where’s the harm? Haven’t I said, she’s half-simple already? But I want to be sure. Then I’ll take her, unsuspecting, to the madhouse gates. “I must only marry her,” he said, “and-as Johnny would say-I must jiggle her, once, for the sake of the cash. So close, perhaps…” He did not finish, but turned the card face down, and kept his fingers on its back. I know a man who will take her off my hands.

Once I have married this girl, I shan’t want her about me. “And there’s something else,” said, “that I shall need Sue’s help with. Gentleman needs Sue to pose as Maud’s maid and look the other way when chaperoning their painting lessons. The plot’s mastermind is Gentleman, a charismatic thief, who has an in with Maud’s uncle. In Fingersmith, Sue Trinder is brought to the estate of Maud Lilly to trick her out of an inheritance. Finally-I can say good things about a book by Sarah Waters! She’s the best writer whose books I don’t love (see The Paying Guests, see also: The Little Stranger).

Author of fingersmith