Fingersmith

by Sarah Waters

511 pages

English language

Published Nov. 8, 2002 by Riverhead Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-57322-203-7

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 naive 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 …

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.

13 editions

Kadomi reviewed Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Review of 'Fingersmith' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Going into reading this, all I knew about was that Sarah Waters writes historical novels with lesbians in them, so what's not to love (if you're me)? The story surprised me a bit, because it was waaaay gloomier than expected.

17-year old Sue Trinder is a fingersmith, a thief in Victorian London. An orphan, she is living in the house of Mrs. Sucksby who 'farms' babies for money, taking in orphans and selling them. Sue loves the folks at the house like a family, and Mrs. Sucksby is like a mother to her. One of the scoundrels at the house comes up with a daring plan to get married to an heiress with the help of her lady's maid and then have the wife sent off to an asylum so that he and the maid can split the inheritance between them. Sue agrees to be the lady's maid and travels to the house Briar, where she meets Maud Lilly, the lady who is about to be swindled out of her inheritance. Which is not as easy as it first seems, and twists and turns throughout the whole story.

Sarah Waters manages to write in a very Dickensian style. Briar is gloomy, dark, and full of hidden secrets, like Mr. Lilly's library, and the streets of London are dirty, smelly and dangerous. I found it to be quite the page turner, because the story twists in so many unexpected ways from the original plot that it's hard to predict how it might end, and keeps you reading.

My one issue is that the two main characters who have their own points of view, Sue and Maud, are not always very likeable, which meant I was less moved by events than I should have been. Which ultimately makes me stop my rating at 4 stars. If you like gloomy, Dickens-style novels and don't shy away from a girl loving another girl (mind you, it's hardly explicit), it's a good read.