Fingersmith, by Sarah Waters - Jeanette
Two girls, who know nothing of each other, are thrown together in their teenage years. Sue has been raised by villains and thieves in what amounts to a "den" in the backstreets of London. She knows poverty and hardship, but, despite losing her own mother as a baby, knows she is loved by Mrs Suckersby, the brains of the criminal operation.
Maud has grown up under the care of her uncle, in a manor house in the countryside, totally isolated from the real world outside their estate. Maud has also lost her mum, but she is neither loved nor cherished by her uncle, who uses his niece to further his strange literary research.
Enter the handsome and enigmatic Gentleman. He has a devilish plan to wheedle his way into Maud's life and heart, in pursuit of the family fortune which she will inherit on her eighteenth birthday, and Sue is a crucial part of his plan.
Sarah Waters is a master story-teller, and this tale is one of those rare books that I just couldn't wait to get back to, and was grateful for a long read (500 pages). Bed-time got earlier and earlier as I was drawn deeper into the plot! The relationship between the two girls is heart-warming, but at the same time that I was celebrating their friendship I was feeling Sue's guilt at being part of Maud's imminent downfall.
I really liked Sue, and I just wanted the Gentleman to disappear so that the girls could just settle into a quiet and peaceful existence together, giving and getting exactly what each deserved in their young but troubled lives.
But that wouldn't have made for much of a tale, would it? Instead, Waters weaves a dramatic spider-web of deceit and betrayal, which leaves the reader heartbroken over the potential fate of both girls. And even though we learn early on in the story about Gentleman's dastardly deed, that's really just the start of the plot twists.
- Jeanette
