"Oliver Twist with a twist...Waters spins an absorbing tale that withholds as much as it discloses. A pulsating story."--The New York Times Book Review The Handmaiden, a film adaptation of Fingersmith, directed by Park Chan-wook and starring Kim Tae-Ri, is now available.
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 na ve 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.
Industry Reviews
"Deliciously brazen...a smart and seductive enchantment."--Los Angeles Times "Oliver Twist with a twist...Waters spins an absorbing tale that withholds as much as it discloses. A pulsating story."--The New York Times Book Review "Astonishing narrative twists."--Newsday "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 "A deftly plotted thriller...absorbing and elegant."--Entertainment Weekly "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 "Calls to mind the feverishly gloomy haunts of Charlotte and Emily Bronte...Elaborate and satisfying."--The Seattle Times "A sweeping read."--The Boston Globe Deliciously brazen a smart and seductive enchantment. Los Angeles Times Oliver Twist with a twist Waters spins an absorbing tale that withholds as much as it discloses. A pulsating story. The New York Times Book Review Astonishing narrative twists. Newsday 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 A deftly plotted thriller absorbing and elegant. Entertainment Weekly 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 Calls to mind the feverishly gloomy haunts of Charlotte and Emily Bronte Elaborate and satisfying. The Seattle Times A sweeping read. The Boston Globe" "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 "A deftly plotted thriller with two equally compelling heroines, orphans Sue Trinder and Maud Lilly. Manipulated by someone she knows only as Gentleman, Sue is sent to a country estate to work as Maud's maid and help him woo the simple heiress. The plot twists--then again and again--until one girl is in a terrifying insane asylum and another held captive. An absorbing and elegant story that's old-fashioned in the best way."--Entertainment Weekly "Oliver Twist with a twist: female and sexually aware...This is a Victorian novel the Victorians never dreamed of writing...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...Dickens...would surely have blushed to read it."--The New York Times Book 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 "What a deliciously brazen stunt Sarah Waters pulls off in this romantic thriller set in Victorian times...[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 "Addicted to its atmosphere and hung up on its plot, I've gulped it exhaustedly until 3am, only to sleep and dream that I was still caught among its urgent, unnerving characters...There are always novels that you envy people for not yet having read, for the pleasures they still have to come. Well, this is one. Long, dark, twisted and satisfying, it's a fabulous piece of writing, but Waters's most impressive achievement is that she also makes it feel less
