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Fingersmith: A Novel
by Sarah Waters
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About This Book
ISBN13: 9781573229722 |
Only 1 left in stock at $6.95!
Awards
Lambda Literary Award
New York Times Notable Book 2002
Entertainment Weekly's Best Book: Overall Top 10 2002
Orange Prize for Fiction: Shortlist
Man Booker Prize for Fiction: Shortlist
New York Times Notable Book 2002
Entertainment Weekly's Best Book: Overall Top 10 2002
Orange Prize for Fiction: Shortlist
Man Booker Prize for Fiction: Shortlist
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
Sue Trinder is an orphan, left as an infant in the care of Mrs. Sucksby, a "baby farmer," who raised her with unusual tenderness, as if Sue were her own. Mrs. Sucksby's household, with its fussy babies calmed with doses of gin, also hosts a transient family of petty thieves — fingersmiths — for whom this house in the heart of a mean London slum is home.
One day, the most beloved thief of all arrives — Gentleman, an elegant con man, who carries with him an enticing proposition for Sue: If she wins a position as the maid to Maud Lilly, a naïve gentlewoman, and aids Gentleman in her seduction, then they will all share in Maud's vast inheritance. Once the inheritance is secured, Maud will be disposed of — passed off as mad, and made to live out the rest of her days in a lunatic asylum.
With dreams of paying back the kindness of her adopted family, Sue agrees to the plan. Once in, however, Sue begins to pity her helpless mark and care for Maud Lilly in unexpected ways... But no one and nothing is as it seems in this Dickensian novel of thrills and reversals.
The New York Times Book Review has called Sarah Waters a writer of "startling power" and the Seattle Times has praised her work as "gripping, astute fiction that feeds the mind and the senses." Fingersmith marks a major leap forward in this young and brilliant career.
Review:
"[A] richly woven tale of duplicity, passion, and lots of other good stuff....Nobody writing today surpasses the precocious Waters's virtuosic handling of narrative complexity and thickly textured period detail. This is a marvelous novel." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
Review:
"Superb storytelling. Fingersmith is gripping; so suspenseful and twisting is the plot that for the last 250 pages, I read at breakneck speed." USA Today
Review:
"A marvelous pleasure....Waters's noted attention to historical detail and her beautifully sensitive dialogue help to anchor the force-five plot twisters." The Washington Post Book World
Review:
"A deftly plotted thriller....An absorbing and elegant story that's old-fashioned in the best way." Entertainment Weekly
Review:
"Oliver Twist with a twist: female and sexually aware....Waters spins an absorbing tale that withholds as much as it discloses....She writes great Gothic, her descriptive skill augmented by an acute ear for dialogue." The New York Times Book Review
Review:
"What a deliciously brazen stunt Sarah Waters pulls off....[A] first-rate pastiche of betrayed maidens and dastardly smiling villains....The erotic charge between Maud and Sue and the psychological games they play make Fingersmith a sophisticated treat." Los Angeles Times
Review:
"A sweeping read." The Boston Globe
Review:
"[The] energetic plot bristles with scheming villains and lurid details....Calls to mind the feverishly gloomy haunts of Charlotte and Emily Bronte....Elaborate and satisfying." The Seattle Times
Review:
"A doorstopper of a book that manages to be both Victorian and modern all at once....Full of enough sinewy twists and turns to make Wilkie Collins — the Charles Dickens contemporary — put down his quill in awe." Vancouver Sun
Review:
"An intriguing and entertaining read full of twists and turns, reversals and revelations....A haunting, disturbing and lovely ode to the universal frailties of the human condition." Rocky Mountain News
Synopsis:
Raised by a loving family of thieves, orphan Sue Trinder is sheltered from the worst of the Victorian underworld until it becomes her turn to make the clan's fortune. She must help a professional rogue named Gentleman marry an heiress and then steal the girl's inheritance by declaring her insane. Sue wants to please everyone, but as she's confronted with the seemingly helpless victim, Maud, she begins to have her doubts.
Synopsis:
In Victorian England, an orphan girl is sent to a country estate to work for-and ultimately woo-its young heiress, on behalf of a mysterious benefactor known as Gentleman.
About the Author
A native of Wales, Sarah Waters is the award-winning author of Affinity and Tipping the Velvet.
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 3 comments:
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lenore, February 24, 2008 (view all comments by lenore)
Well written and well plotted, this book is a mesmerizing page turner! I turned off thne phone so I could sit and read uninterrupted through the last 200 pages. All in all, a terrific historical novel!
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Melissar17, April 3, 2007 (view all comments by Melissar17)
I thought this book was the best book I had ever read until I got to the end. I was sadly disappointed with the ending. The twists and turns throughout the book had me sitting on the edge of my seat and I couldn't put the book down. I read the entire book in about 3 days. I could never guess what was going to happen next, that is until the end it was depressing that the end was so guessable and disappointing, I was really hoping it would end with some shocking twist, if it had I would have said it was the best book of all time that I have read so far, and I read alot.
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Lenny, April 4, 2006 (view all comments by Lenny)
Sarah Waters has been one of the most surprising forces to enter the historical fiction genre. Don't be fooled that her books are only interesting for women who date women. She is a lucid and engaging novelist, producing enjoyable period pieces. I highly recommend "Fingersmith" as a good starting point.
View all 3 comments
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9781573229722
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Riverhead Books
- Subject:
- General
- Subject:
- Fiction
- Subject:
- Historical - General
- Subject:
- London (england)
- Subject:
- Lesbian
- Subject:
- General Fiction
- Copyright:
- 2002
- Edition Number:
- 1st U.S. paperback
- Publication Date:
- October 22, 2002
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Grade Level:
- General/trade
- Language:
- English
- Pages:
- 592
- Dimensions:
- 8.20x5.14x1.25 in. 1.02 lbs.
