Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Expect the unexpected..., July 19, 2010 This review is from: Fingersmith (Paperback) Are you a Dickens fan? Did you read The Woman in White (Barnes & Noble Classics) by Wilkie Collins? Have you enjoyed Michel Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White? If so -- this is the book for you! Set in Victorian London and outlying areas circa 1862, the novel is the gloomy, grim, yet enthralling story of two very different girls whose meeting results in circumstances that change both in cataclysmic fashion. Sue Trinder, a fingersmith (pickpocket) lives among con men and thieves with an adoptive mother who takes in infants. Maud Lilly, heiress, lives a protected existence on a country estate with her bookish uncle and finds herself in need of a maid. The two are brought together by Gentleman, a scoundrel and rogue, in a dastardly plot to gain him Maud's inheritance. The novel is divided into three parts giving you the perspective of each of the girls. The third section is the conclusion, full of surprising twists and turns. The characters in London, the ones on the estate, and those in the lunatic asylum, are interesting and their plights are compelling -- some you will love and others you will hate. Or will you change your mind, once you understand their motivations and secrets? I really enjoyed this novel because of its setting and I liked the plot -- including the many times that I discovered that what I had thought was not what happened or when a foregone conclusion proved false! I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a complex and entertaining read with many layers. I have not read any of Sarah Waters' previous books, but will certainly rectify that now.