Sarah Waters | Fiction

It was 1862 in London when Sue Tinders, orphaned at birth, comes to live with Mrs. Sucksby and her “family” of fingersmiths – petty thieves, all.  By the time Sue turns 17, she finds herself in the midst of an elaborate conspiratorial plot.  The plot evolves to reveal truth and falsehood, loyalty and disloyalty, love in many forms, betrayal, exploitation, manipulation … well, the list goes on!

I loved this book!  Because it was difficult to get my hands on, and it was a book club read, I had five days to read this 600-page book cover to cover. It wasn’t hard. Water’s writing creates a page-turner, attested to by most members of the Casting Crew Book Club.

Here is but one example of her evocative and visual writing (page 114):  “Besides, the days at Briar were so very regular, it was quite like some great mechanical show, you could not change it.  The house bell woke us up in the mornings and after that we all went moving on our ways from room to room, on our set courses, until the bell rang us back into our beds at night.  There might as well have been grooves laid for us in the floorboards; we might have glided on sticks.  There might have been a great handle set into the side of the house, and a great hand winding it …”

Sarah Waters is a fine storyteller. This book will stay with you and haunt you for a while.  There are twists, turns and inevitable conclusions.  I highly recommend this book, especially for a summer read; it is engrossing and unique.  Personally, I am going to explore Sarah Waters’ five prior novels.  I have already requested Tipping the Velvet at the library.