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... But tonight, all things are out of their order, all my patterns have been disturbed. My liberty beckons: gauge-less, fearful, inevitable as death.
I sleep, and dream I am moving, swiftly, in a high-prowed boat, upon a dark and silent water.
The old England thing and the poor little pickpocket waif have never really been my favorite themes, but this gets such rave reviews, I thought I should check it out and see if Sarah Waters is an author I should be reading.
I am pleased that I didn't re ...more

This feels a lot like Dickens for people who don't like Dickens, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. A beautiful walk through the muck, where low folk get glimpses of a better life and realize just how much is required of them to climb the ladder. There's love at the centre of this book...but it's certainly not a conventional love story.
...No gloves were harmed in the writing of this novel. ...more
...No gloves were harmed in the writing of this novel. ...more

Utterly captivating and unexpected, this story is Dickens/Bronte with a twist: a dessicated uncle collects pornography/erotica purely as an intellectual hobby/compulsion; two women transcend class differences in more ways than one and fall in love with each other; duplicity awaits at every turn; thieves and madwomen lose and find their identities.

At some parts the story dragged and overall the book could have been a lot shorter but I nevertheless enjoyed it. The mental institution part was creepy. To think that someone sane could actually be stuck in such a place... Who wouldn't eventually become crazy?
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Jun 04, 2008
Ching-In
marked it as to-read

Sep 01, 2008
Ashley
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Aug 20, 2009
Vesra (When She Reads)
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Jun 27, 2012
alana
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Jun 26, 2013
Erica
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Aug 13, 2013
Becca
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