Fingersmith

Author: Sarah Waters

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $20.00 AUD
  • : 9781860498831
  • : Virago Press
  • : Virago Press
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  • : 0.435
  • : December 2002
  • : 197mm X 133mm X 38mm
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  • : 22.99
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  • : books

Special Fields

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  • : Sarah Waters
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  • : Paperback
  • :
  • :
  • : English
  • : 823/.914
  • : 560
  • : FA
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Barcode 9781860498831
9781860498831

Description

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 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. 

"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.

Promotion info

* The Orange Prize short-listed, Booker Prize short-listed, critically adored, third novel from Sarah Waters - reissued in with a stunning new jacket

Awards

Winner of CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger 2002 and CWA Ellis Peters Historical Award 2002. Shortlisted for Orange Prize 2002 and Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2002 and Orange Prize for Fiction 2002 and Booker Prize for Fiction 2002.

Author description

Sarah Waters was born in Wales in 1966. She has a Ph.D in English Literature and has lectured for the Open University. She lives in London.