Tipping the Velvet in Reading with Style

Oct 23, 2009 Paula rated it really liked it

Have you ever read a book that took you away from the world? One where, when you set it down, you had to remind yourself of your own reality? A book where you met a character and found yourself feeling as though you accompanied them through the book?

This was that book. I felt as though I were the proverbial 'fly on the wall' throughout the story of Nancy Astler, who was an 18-yr-old English girl at the start of the book. Set in the late 19th century, this work by Sarah Waters explores a side of ...more

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Mar 18, 2017 Elizabeth (Alaska) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: xx-20th-c-women-read, library, late-20th-century, women, xx-2017-women, xx-2017-reps

First, I'll just say that those half dozen readers who have this shelved as "circus" are going to be disappointed. They must have been misled by the cover. Second, I'll say that had this been my first Sarah Waters, I might have missed some good novels. I have liked her because her historical fiction feels real and also because her story has a bit of the con about it, a sting of sorts.

Unfortunately this debut novel was missing the con. Although her central characters are lesbian, her other novel ...more

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Feb 29, 2024 Joanna rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2024-read, 1001, historical-fiction, rws-2023-winter

This book is fun. There's some historical aspect here, since the book is set in Victorian England. But it's really a book about lesbians in that society. I'm pretty sure a lot of liberty was taken with the history to keep the story engrossing, but I didn't really mind because the book was so entertaining. I loved all the relationships that were thrown at the protagonist here and the way that she just sort of be-bopped along.

This is literary fluff. It's not a serious book really, but it's much mo ...more

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