Fingersmith in Mostly Sapphic

Oct 05, 2011 Nan Hawthorne rated it it was amazing

Shelves: glbtq

From Bosom Friends: Lesbian Historical Fiction http://lesbianhistoricalfiction.blogs...

A tale of double cross and triple cross set in the mid-1800s in England, this novel is told in first person by two different women, Sue and Maud, alternately, very effectively stripping each swindle layer by layer.

Sue comes from a criminal background, the unofficially adopted daughter of Mrs. Suxby, the mater familias of a household of pickpockets (fingersmiths) and receivers of stolen goods. Gentleman, a con From Bosom Friends: Lesbian Historical Fiction http://lesbianhistoricalfiction.blogs...

A tale of double cross and triple cross set in the mid-1800s in England, this novel is told in first person by two different women, Sue and Maud, alternately, very effectively stripping each swindle layer by layer.

Sue comes from a criminal background, the unofficially adopted daughter of Mrs. Suxby, the mater familias of a household of pickpockets (fingersmiths) and receivers of stolen goods. Gentleman, a con man, enlists Sue in a caper to gain the hand in marriage of an isolated heiress. For the first third of the noel you learn from Sue of the strategy of the con and of her mostly willing participation. She is willing because she comes from a world where everyone is a potential mark. Her unwillingness comes in when she falls in love with Maud. In the next third, narrated by Maud herself, the reader finds out that it is actually she and Gentleman who are swindling Sue! The reasons are at first quite obscure. A troubling aspect of Maud's life comes to light, that her unpleasant uncle has been using her to transcribe and read pornography since she was thirteen. The last third is back to Sue and her efforts to find out why Gentleman and Maud tricked her and to get revenge. Nothing is as it seems until the very last pages of the book.

This is a taut and perplexing psychological tale that strips the characters' morals and motivations bare. Neither young woman has any reason to think there are such things as love and decency in the world, so it is a struggle to resist goodness rather than the opposite for them all. I can guarantee you you will be shocked by all that is revealed eventually.

Pay attention to the imagery of eyes, mirrors, and keys. Never assume anyone is quite whom or what you think. If you are a Waters reader, you probably already expected that.

The novel like all of Waters' novels is beautifully written, exquisitely paced, and historically accurate down to the merest detail. ...more

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