Fingersmith in Mostly Sapphic

Jun 21, 2012 Angie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: lgbtq, queer-ladies, sapphic-romance, set-in-the-uk, historical-fiction, page-count-500

It's been a long time since I've been so engrossed by a novel, but Fingersmith was so spellbinding and deliciously wicked and jaw-droppingly shocking that I couldn't put it down. I want to read it again just to see how differently the story reads once all of the plot has been revealed and to fully appreciate, since I couldn't at the pace I was reading, the way Sarah Waters merges a Victorian story with a contemporary narrative.

A few years ago, I borrowed Fingersmith from the library and slugged ...more

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Jun 03, 2012 B.L. Newport rated it it was amazing

Ho-lee sha-moley...how have I gone so long without reading this? I've known of the book for a long time, and it's been sitting on my Mrs'. shelves since before we were together. This was a story I totally didn't expect to possess so many twists and turns. At the end of part 1, I cursed outloud by the first twist. When reading a suspense such as this, I will usually find myself thinking ahead and imagining what the characters will do. That was not possible with "Fingersmity" for even a second. It ...more

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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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May 03, 2019 Laianna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: lesbian-sapphic-wlw

Amazing. I can’t believe this book was published in 2002 and I’m just discovering it now!

An absolute thriller of a novel, Fingersmith follows Susan, one cog in a great scheme, and Maud, a lady who is not what she seems, in alternating perspectives as they each deal with everything from thief dens to madhouses in Victorian England.

It took me a few chapters to get into the novel, and once I was hooked, Sarah Waters drew the rug out from under my feet. Just when you think you know what is going on ...more

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