Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

At first I liked this book better than Tipping the Velvet, but by the end, I got pretty tired of it. My main objection is that there are just too many plot twists, too many of them centred on confusions about parents and children (which always makes me think of terrible soap operas, or 'Luke, I am your father'). The first half of the novel is really amazing; it starts as a kind of reverse Woman in White, with a young thief is plotting to infiltrate the house of a lady, help steal her fortune, and get her shut up in a madhouse. The best part of the novel is the way both girls get set up, there's a stage where they're both part of a plot that they think they are in control of, and are constantly struggling with their feelings for one another. That part is delightfully Gothic and also cleverly written in the tradition of the best sensation novels. But once that tension breaks, the story weakens a lot, and there are just too many 'shocking' revelations, that stop being shocking because there are just too many of them. The part that takes place in the madhouse was absolutely terrifying, and I seriously started crying over it (which happens to me about once in a hundred years). I also didn't really like the ending, but the whole novel is undoubtedly very clever. I really enjoyed the way writing is one of the main themes; Sue (the thief) doesn't know how to read or write properly, so all written text looks exactly the same to her, allowing secrets to pass before her in plain sight, while Maud (the lady) is forced by her uncle to read and catalogue pornography, and she wishes that she never has to see anything written again. The idea of the meaning of written text is played with over and over again throughout the novel, which was one of my favourite parts of it. It's also not nearly as explicit as Tipping the Velvet, but more sensational.