Nov 10, 2007

Fingersmith

by Sarah Waters

In this winding tale of intrigue and fraud, Sarah Trinder is an orphan who grows up in a household of thieves in Victorian England. A suave con man convinces her to become involved in an elaborate scheme to obtain the inheritance of a gentlewoman named Maud. Sarah takes position as Maud's maid, with the intent of helping the con man seduce Maud so he can marry her, get her inheritance, and then put her away in an insane asylum. But then Sarah finds herself becoming physically attracted to Maud, and determines to help her instead of follow the original plan. Even her new scheme with Muad, however, doesn't go as expected... Fingersmith is well-written and compelling. However, I would prefer to do without the erotic love scenes. If it weren't for that, I would certainly read more by this author.

Rating: 3/5               511 pages, 511

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4 comments:

  1. Tipping The Velvet by the same author also contains a lot of lesbian love scenes. It is however very well written

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  2. Yes; I've read your review on Tipping the Velvet. It sounds fascinating, but those love scenes just make me too uncomfortable! Although this is one instance where I would say they are integral to the story. After reading more summaries, it seems to me that all Sarah Waters' books have to do with lesbians in one culture/time or another. It seems to be her speciality.

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  3. Anonymous11/14/2007

    Sarah Waters is quite well known in lesbian fiction circles. She's won the Lambda Literary Award twice and the Stonewall/Barbara Gittings Award (both awards are given for excellence in GLBT literature), as well as the New York Times Notable booklist(twice)among others.

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  4. Ah. Thanks, Laura. I should have looked up more about her. She really is an great writer, it's just not to my personal taste.

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