“Fingersmith” Sarah Waters (2002) Review | Girls in crime and in love

Fingersmith
Sarah Waters, 2002
582 pages
Read in 2020.10
check on synopsis and details on amazon.com

🔽 Intro and review summary 🔽

✔ Crime and love story by 2 girls in Victorian London
✔ A petty thief approaches a rich girl with bad intentions
✔ Endless twist and turns

★★★★★ She was sent to pose as a maid, but their relationship becomes more than that, a lot more. It feels like many books in one; Victorian London, girls, crime, and love – girls in crime and in love.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

I actually watched the Korean film The Handmaiden first.
I watched it when I was heavily pregnant so it's a bit blurry, but I was astonished to a point that I had to look for the original book.

A family of thieves sends their girl to a rich family, for her to be a maid of the naïve gentlewoman aiming for her eventual inheritance, but slowly their relationship becomes more than that - a lot more.
In the film her uncle collects paintings, ukiyoe, which suits the film as it's set in Korea, but in the book in Victorian London he collects words.

So naturally I kept comparing it to the film, which is always an error because films tend to be more dramatic or exaggerated, but the madness is definitely there in the book.
It feels like you're reading many books, because there are quite a few twists and everything builds up so well; the girls, the crime, and the love.

Also the historical background is intriguing, it depicts different lives in the backstreet in London, that's one reason it feels like you are different many books in one.

At first you think one is tricking another, but oh no you are wrong, but wait it's changing again, now what, oh what is going on NOW.
I don't want to spoil it but you'll see what I mean by this - she's not just a pearl, she's what she's made herself to be but now with pride.
 

🔽 Related pages 🔽
“The Paying Guests” Sarah Waters (2014) Review | But who manipulates who

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Fingersmith