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Fingersmith

3.99 of 5 stars 3.99 · rating details · 21,748 ratings · 1,731 reviews

From the author of the New York Times Notable Book Tipping the Velvet and the award-winning Affinity: a spellbinding, twisting tale of a great swindle, of fortunes and hearts won and lost, set in Victorian London among a family of thieves.

Sue Trinder is an orphan, left as an infant in the care of Mrs. Sucksby, a "baby farmer," who raised her with unusual tenderness, as i...more

Hardcover, 511 pages

Published February 4th 2002 by Riverhead Hardcover

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Jun 10, 2010 karen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: michelle and dana

Shelves: littry-fiction, dana-gets-three, favorites

lesbian dickens!

now that i have your attention... dana has been bugging me to write a review of this for the longest time, and now that she is on vacation and out of my path for ten minutes (seriously - the girl moved to my town just so she could stand under my window all night calling "hey!! heyyy!! write a review for fingersmith! come on, you know you want to!!")

every night.

so, now that i have a little breathing room, i will do my best.

it's true, i want her to read this. i want everyone to re...more

140 likes · like · see review

Feb 09, 2013 Steve aka Sckenda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Lovers of Brilliantly Plotted Historical Novels

Recommended to Steve aka Sckenda by: karen

Shelves: britain, british-authors, historical-fiction, victorian, crime, nyt-notable-book, booker-shortlist, first-person, pov-alternating, television, 1001

Sarah Waters gave me a finger fetish. Having long worshiped at the temple of the body of literature, I have never given the muse’s fingers a second thought--until this book. How do I convince you to read this brilliantly plotted novel without revealing any of the plot? The challenge taxes my ability.

After her mother is hanged by the Crown, Sue is raised by “fingersmiths” (thieves, pickpockets and fences) in the back alleys of Victorian London. Sue conspires with “Gentleman” to bilk an heiress, n...more

35 likes · like · see review

Oct 21, 2011 Tatiana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Tatiana by: Tommy Tomato

Shelves: booker, 1001, historical, 2011

As seen on The Readventurer

Fingersmith packs quite a few twists and surprises.

At first, after reading the book's plot summary, I expected it to be a rompish, Les Liaisons Dangereuses-like adventure. 17-year old Susan Trinder, a foster kid in a family of fingersmiths (thieves), is recruited to act as a lady's maid to equally young and wealthy Maud Lilly. Susan's role in the devious scheme is to gently push this naive and simple-minded girl into the arms of Mr. Rivers, strip Ms. Lilly of her inher...more

35 likes · like · see review

Aug 12, 2012 Paul rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: modernvictorian, novels

This totally wonderful novel does exactly what the title says, it fingers your myth, it steals up on your soul and breathes down its neck and a shudder of pleasure is felt to the ends of all your extremities, your brain will wobble, your hair will vibrate strongly, and your eyebrows will be thrust up and down like energetic trampolining children as the intricate-clockmaker plot fastens your eyes ravenously to every page - draw the curtains, do not charge the mobile phone, tell your friends you h...more

45 likes · like · see review

Oct 19, 2011 Lisa O. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult-fiction

I have to admit that throughout almost all of Fingersmith the main random thoughts sweeping across the desolate land of my mind were along the lines of: WTF? WHAT? WHAT DID JUST HAPPEN?

This is an intricate, ambitious, original, jaw-dropping, gut-punching, heart-wrenching plot for which I will NOT give you a synopsis. First, because I wouldn't know where to start from and second because it's better for you if you know NOTHING about it. Then you'll have my same random thoughts, as stated above.

I'...more

34 likes · like · see review

Jun 29, 2008 Chandra rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, favorites, anglophilia, love-romance

Sarah Waters is one of my very favorite contemporary author and this is my favorite of all of her novels - less frivolous than Tipping the Velvet, but less grim than Affinity - both of which I loved. This one is just as compulsively readable as those - I tore through it in 3 days. I think it's a must-read for fans of sensational Victorian literature. You'll find a lot of reviews comparing Waters to Dickens and of course I see the connection - what with all the orphans, villains, mad houses, biza...more

17 likes · like · see review

Apr 01, 2007 Amanda Clay rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While not as sexy as Tipping the Velvet, this book is a gripping read. I envy any reader their first trip through the story, because you will never guess what's going on or what's going to happen next. Perfectly plotted, brilliantly realized. Unfortunately, Sarah Waters' most recent book is rather a snore, and in her next book she's promised to abandon writing about lesbian characters all together ('cause the world of heterosexuality isn't yet well-documented. Sorry to be so bitter, but it makes...more

19 likes · like · see review

Mar 19, 2011 Blair rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, read-on-kindle, booker-prize

I had high expectations of this: firstly, the one other book I've read by the author - The Little Stranger - is one of my absolute favourites, and secondly, I'd heard/read endless positive reviews of Fingersmith prior to reading it. It's the latter point that spurred me on to finally get round to it, as the plot didn't pique my interest in the same way The Little Stranger's post-war psuedo-ghost-story did. Fingersmith is set in Victorian England, and tells the tale of two teenage girls - both ap...more I had high expectations of this: firstly, the one other book I've read by the author - The Little Stranger - is one of my absolute favourites, and secondly, I'd heard/read endless positive reviews of Fingersmith prior to reading it. It's the latter point that spurred me on to finally get round to it, as the plot didn't pique my interest in the same way The Little Stranger's post-war psuedo-ghost-story did. Fingersmith is set in Victorian England, and tells the tale of two teenage girls - both apparently orphaned - who have led very different lives but whose fates are intertwined; Sue, a wily London thief or 'fingersmith', and Maud, the heiress to a small fortune who has never left her uncle's forbidding home.

This book is the very definition of a page-turner. I had a bit of trouble getting used to the Dickensian language at first and, when I saw how long the novel was, I was baffled by memories of friends claiming to have finished it in a matter of days. Once I got stuck into the plot, however, this was no longer a mystery. This is a book you literally - particularly in the case of the middle third - CANNOT put down. I stayed up into the early hours of the morning to finish the aforementioned section, unable to go to sleep without knowing what would become of the characters. The author is outstanding at making you not only root for Maud and Sue, but really feel the horror of their respective situations, their longing for escape (and the utter frustration of thwarted attempts), their desperate thirst for revenge. The narrative, which shows you events first from one protagonist's point of view, then the other, is excellent - it can't have been easy to describe the same happenings twice and still keep them fresh, but because of certain twists, the approach works, as the reader comes to realise how distorted a reflection of reality one individual's perspective can be.

So, why not five stars? Well; there's a strong streak of bleakness throughout the book, and every setting - the streets of London, Mrs Sucksby's house, Briar, the madhouse - seems identically depressing, dingy, mucky, empty and unwelcoming. The apparently boundless wickedness and duplicity of the supporting characters has a similar effect. (That said, both of these elements help in making you empathise with Maud and Sue.) I actually found Gentleman the most interesting character of them all, and I would really have liked to see some of the story from his point of view, or to understand more about the true motivations of the 'bad' characters. The two protagonists are so fleshed-out and real that they do make the others appear rather two-dimensional.

I found the ending fascinating, and more than a touch macabre - the way the girls end up back in the thoroughly dispiriting enclave of Briar, the house littered with what seem to be symbols (the broken glass on the floor, the cobwebs and dust, the untouched table and its rotten apples), Maud working in her uncle's sinister library (that library and that house reminded me so much of The Bloody Chamber - at one point I seriously expected Maud to find a torture chamber amongst her uncle's rooms), as if a circle has been completed and the heroines are again trapped. The more I think about it, the more I really think the ending was loaded with hidden meanings; the weirdness of it overwhelmed me so much that Maud and Sue's declaration of love almost seemed like an incidental detail; as 'happy endings' go, it was a very dark one. I could draw a lot of parallels between this ending - in some ways, the whole story, actually - and that of We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Perhaps Waters was using the girls' environment to represent the future difficulties they would no doubt have had in pursuing the life they wished to lead together?

All in all, this was an enjoyable book and one best summed up as compelling - I really underestimated how readable I would find it. However, though I know most readers prefer Waters' Victorian novels, I was right in suspecting that I couldn't possibly love this as much as I did The Little Stranger, which I still constantly think about and want to re-read. Definitely recommended, though.(less)

8 likes · like · see review

Feb 10, 2013 Wanda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Wanda by: Bettie and Laura

Shelves: 2013, ebooks, fiction-and-literature, neo-victorian

7 FEB 2013 - my Dear Friend Laura is currently reading this one. My interest was piqued and so I gave it a look. Dear Bettie said it was "Excellent." Others enjoyed it and so I am giving it a go.

10 FEB 2013 - Excellent! I will definitely read more of this author.

4 likes · like · see review

Oct 03, 2011 Christie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favourite-books, book-club-reads

"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…and unforgettable experience.” Julie Myerson, Guardian

Fingersmith was my choice for book club (2008). As always, I deliberated endlessly over what to choose and wanted to pick something off my ‘to read’ shelf. Despite the book’s length, reviews had promised a page-turner and they were right.

Fingers...more

7 likes · like · see review

Apr 09, 2008 Corbin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, favorites

Character is a fascinating thing, and not many authors can top Waters' ability to create character through dialogue. She also zooms in on details: the sound of a man rubbing his fingers along his unshaved chin, the pop from a fireplace that comes at just the appropriate moment--Waters can do it all. She's able to take point-of-view to a new level-- look over here, now here, now here. It's amazing.

Almost everything about this book is perfection. I love the zipper effect of the first two books be...more

9 likes · like · see review

Jul 26, 2012 Frozenwaffle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don't think I would ever pick up this book on my own. Emy challenged it to me on the Chaos Reading EEVILLE Book Challenge, and for that I thank her! :D

I've read very few Victorian-style novels, and the little I read was with characters full of piety, moral standards, honesty, love for their fellow beings, yadda yadda. (Which is to say, I read mostly Louisa May Alcott. :P)

Now, imagine my surprise when this turns out to be full of tricky thiefs saying "Fuck off!" I was shocked right there. he...more

2 likes · like · see review

Aug 26, 2011 ☽ Moon ☯ 佛月球 Будда Луны rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

∝δ∝δ∝δ∝δ∝• LABYRINTH OF DECEIT •∝δ∝δ∝δ∝δ∝

In a time, when morals were held too high and women's value considered too low was a society dominated by men and ruled by the tight grip of their patriarchal control.

Two young women, two mothers, two houses and a madhouse got caught in its intricate web of scandal that spun one secretly kept deception, surreptitiously hiding the truth. It interlocked their lives in a multilayered labyrinth of secrets, creating a farcical reality that spawned lies, treach...more

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 15, 2010 Laurel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction

Though I've only read two of her books thus far, it is already clear to me that Sarah Waters is a wonderfully gifted storyteller. This book is set in 19th century England and it is a beautifully written Victorian inspired novel. Many compare it to Dickens or Wilkie Collins, and it's easy to see why that comparison is made. The writing is rich with the detail so common in Victorian literature, and the characters (including Dickens-esque orphans, thieves and evil villains) are incredibly lively an...more

2 likes · like · see review

Aug 18, 2008 Victoria rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites

It's the full five stars for this wonderful novel that catches elements of Dickens and strands of the gothic tradition, weaves them together with varying viewpoints and counter-opinions, throws in a lesbian subplot (of course, it is Sarah Waters writing) and ultimately serves up one of the very best novels I have ever read.

It lost out to Life Of Pi for the Booker Prize, and such is the quality of Fingersmith, that Life Of Pi has jumped up my reading list. If it's better than this... well... we s...more

7 likes · like · see review

Jan 10, 2008 Candise rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: top-ten, queer, victorian

A friend knocked on my door one evening and I answered, looking disheveled and I think a bit frightened. She asked me what was wrong, if she had interrupted something. I said no, that I had just been reading Fingersmith and I was really stressed out because now I had to leave the house and didn't know what was going to happen next. And that is basically how this book took over my life (in a good way).

Sue is an orphan who lives in London in a house of petty thieves. A con man known as Gentleman c...more

20 likes · like · see review

Mar 22, 2008 DJ TweakyClean rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: i-love-it-get-your-own-damn-copy

WOW! This book is so damn good! It is one of those great books that I couldn't put down, because I wanted to know what was going to happen next, but I found myself stopping to admire the writing as well. It has a rich Dickensian style, both in language and plot. The big difference being that this is a Dickensian tale of Victorian London, through the modern eyes of a feminist and lesbian. It deconstructs the darker aspects of literary England in that period, and tells the tale of two young women,...more

6 likes · like · see review

Jul 08, 2007 Kristina A rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: 19th C-lit lovers who've read all of Dickens

Shelves: neo-victorian, favorites

This is one of my favorite novels of all time. Yes, Sarah Waters writes bestsellers, and I admit to being a snob about that sometimes, but I love Tipping the Velvet and Affinity, too. She perfectly captures the atmosphere of a Dickens or (perhaps more accurately) Wilkie Collins novel, but is able to say what those novelists could obviously only allude to. While still retaining some of the restraint that seems accurate for the period, the plot is very fast-paced and chock-full of all of the wonde...more

4 likes · like · see review

Mar 11, 2009 Tara rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who like unexpected plot twists, Victorian & Gothic elements

Shelves: favorites

If you've read the reviews for this book below, then you know that this book is on almost everyone's "favorite" list, and for good reason. This is my #1 favorite book (a tie to Jane Eyre, which is certainly hard to beat). I read this novel several years ago and have since loaned out 3 copies to friends only to never get them back. I am, in fact, due for another copy -- because I must have one of my own on the shelves!

Essentially, Fingersmith is everything I could possibly want in a novel. The na...more

10 likes · like · see review

Aug 05, 2007 Tiffany X rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: historical fiction

This book, although written by a modern living author, is written beautifully in the language of the Victorians. (I despise reading pretend Victorian era prose by modern writers).
The story begins a little too much in the way the classic of 'the Secret Garden' did but it soon heats up with mystery regarding how a big mansion is ran. I would so not call this lesbian literature. Very few moments of describing adventures between two women. But the story is about love!

3 likes · like · see review

Dec 29, 2008 Jessie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

a real page turner--thriller. campy, tragic, sensual. written in a victorian pen, waters knows this writing. great book. lesbian themes. deception. poverty.

4 likes · like · see review

Jan 01, 2009 Kathystewart rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is my favorite book that I read this year. My heart was actually pounding while reading it, and I lost two nights sleep because I HAD to read what happened next.

Don't read too much about this book, just read it.

4 likes · like · see review

Mar 05, 2011 Bee rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read The Little Stranger last year and was left feeling rather cold. I had massively high expectations from the book and although it was fantastically written and definitely grasped my attention and held it until the end, I was unsatisfied with the ending and a few sections of the book left me a bit bewildered.

When I vocalised this, quite a few people told me to read Fingersmith and other works, and not to give up! I am SO glad I did because this is the first 5* I have given a book on here!

So...more

3 likes · like · see review

Mar 12, 2010 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Jessica by: Jess

Shelves: historical-fiction, favorites

I just adored this book. It's been a while since I read a book that I couldn't stop thinking about when it was closed.

4 likes · like · see review

Mar 26, 2012 Brandi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

3.5 Stars

This is my first (contemporary? historical?) book, and while it was written beautifully it took me three days to read it. I'm certain that is because I'm a big PNR girl, and this is very different. Here are two passages I highlighted to show how gorgeous the prose is:

There are no books, here. There is only life in all its awful chaos. And the only purpose the things are made to serve, is the making of money.

'Let me see to it,' said Nurse Spiller. She finished it off--two or three time...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 26, 2009 DJ rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of the Gothic Genre

Recommended to DJ by: Angela

Shelves: read-and-returned, bought-after-reading, own-it

I was recommended this book by a friend after a discussion on "Wilkie Collins-The Woman in White".
I have absolutely loved this book and would recommend it to anyone who has a love of gothic novels-you will not be disappointed!
I had to wait to read this book as I found it wasn`t a book that I wanted to put down,it demanded to be read in great swathes of time so that I bacame completely submerged in it`s world,a bit like Sue Trinder in hers.(you will understand this comment if you read the book).
I...more

3 likes · like · see review

Nov 17, 2008 desiree rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm a bit surprised at just how many positive reviews Fingersmith has recieved here. Don't get me wrong--I enjoyed reading it. I didn't have to push myself to get through any part of the novel. But, I felt like the first plot twist was so completely out-of-the-blue that I was actually angry at Waters for it. The rest seemed to flow more smoothly, almost to the point of predicability, had I given myself time to predict before finishing the book.
I also felt like the characters were more flat than...more

7 likes · like · see review

Oct 01, 2010 Tracy Phillips rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Started reading Fingersmith today (September 26,2010) after I did a brief preview some days ago. October 1, 2010 -Just finished. Mulling over the book. Perhaps more later, thoroughly enjoyed the read.

2 likes · like · see review

Jun 19, 2007 Adam rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who like lesbian sex

Boring. Just boring. Painfully painfully boring. Are you willing to slough through 592 pages of wanna-be Victorian writing for a couple of plot twists and lesbian sex scenes?

Half the damn book was Waters narrating in excruciating detail who blushed when. Or, as she puts it, whose "face coloured" when. Note the 'u' in colored. That means that it's a classy British book and not at all a bland excuse to foist a little bit of bean-fiddling on those who are too repressed to admit that that's what the...more

10 likes · like · see review

Feb 28, 2011 Krok Zero rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: winter-10-to-11

I dunno, guys. This is...not trashier, but shallower than I expected. It is basically a bloated Elmore Leonard caper novel in Victorian clothing, with a feminist POV and a deceptively dour tone. It's not bad at all, but I was expecting something meatier. The length isn't really justified, either; after a dynamite first act it gets seriously draggy in the remaining two thirds. OTOH, the period milieu is totally convincing and the dialogue is great. But I wouldn't give this more than a shrugging h...more

7 likes · like · see review

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topics	posts	views	last activity
PART II OF THE BOOK	1	15	Jun 03, 2013 10:08am
Anticipating the plot twist	1	19	Apr 03, 2013 07:57pm
A little disappointing	16	179	Jan 31, 2013 04:06am
Mostly Lesfic: Fingersmith Buddy Read	93	57	Jul 25, 2012 06:50am
Endicott Mythic F...: Fingersmith - Discussion	19	34	May 09, 2012 08:35pm
Fingersmith: There's something about Agnes!	4	107	Nov 20, 2011 03:44pm

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About Sarah Waters

Sarah Waters is a British novelist. She is best known for her first novel, Tipping the Velvet, as well the novels that followed, including Affinity, Fingersmith, and The Night Watch.
Waters attended university, and earned degrees in English literature. Before writing novels, Waters worked as an academic, earning a doctorate and teaching. Waters went directly from her doctoral thesis to her first no...more

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Books by Sarah Waters

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Quotes from Fingersmith

“We have a name for your disease. We call it a hyper-aesthetic one. You have been encouraged to over-indulge yourself in literature; and have inflamed your organs of fancy.” — 59 people liked it

“It's a curious, wanting thing.” — 34 people liked it

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