Tipping the Velvet - Sarah Waters

67%

06.03.25

Sarah Waters hasn't published a novel for more than 10 years so I was pleased to remember there was one I hadn't read. In her anniversary afterword, she's pretty critical of this, her debut novel,  but I think she's too harsh on herself. From the start, the reader is clearly in the hands of a confident and sophisticated storyteller, a late-20th-century Dickens. Yes, it was a bit messy, and the main character is self-serving to the end - and it wasn't quite as good as The Little Stranger, for example - but it's certainly a good read.

The Paying Guests - Sarah Waters

67%
18.09.14

I love Sarah Waters' writing and I loved the first half of her latest novel, where she establishes her complex characters, vivid sense of place and mounting tension. Waters' books are always clever and usually unpredictable. But, as with the later part of her previous book, The Little Stranger, the pace wandered off (ironically, as the plot quickened) and it needed a decent edit to tighten it up. Far better than most writers out there, but not her best work.

Fingersmith - Sarah Waters

69%
31.03.13

The incomparable Sarah Waters - reinventing the historical novel while referencing its ancestors (a whole load of Richardson, a bunch of Dickens, perhaps a little Gaskell). Her exploitation of the first person narrator's limitations enables fine plot twists and her rich storytelling makes you drop everything else and swallow the unlikely events and coincidences. For the first three-quarters, at least. After that the story seems to get dragged into its own detail, slowly spooling out to an inevitable conclusion that seems oddly lacklustre. But even that final quarter is more accomplished than the majority of books I've read recently.

Affinity - Sarah Waters

70%
18.10.11

A rich, compelling story with vivid characters and a devastating ending - just what you'd expect from Sarah Waters. It's a shame she's often categorised as a "gay" writer as, while that element is usually integral, it implies that the novelty of literary lesbianism is the reason for her popularity. It probably does sell more books, but the fact that she's one of Britain's best living novelists helps too.

The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters

71%

03.04.11

Some people say the ending is ambiguous but it was pretty damn clear to me. So clear that I wasn't too keen on being left alone and was still shaking when I went to bed . And so clear that my admiration for the subtle, vivid details and ingenious construction remains in the rational light of day. A little flabby, in places, a little slow, but otherwise entirely riveting.

The Night Watch - Sarah Waters

66%
16.03.07




Accomplished is the word - impeccably structured, written and researched, to the extent of it all being rather distracting. It's such a msterclass in the art of the novel that it doesn't really come alive. But it's still compelling and enjoyable - if only it could relax a little.