About this title: Recovering after an attempted suicide, Margaret Prior makes charitable visits to the women's ward at Millbank Prison, where she encounters the charismatic spiritualist Selina Dawes. Caught up in Selina's spell, Margaret begins attending séances, and eventually allows Selina to persuade her to help her escape. A 2001 nominee for a Lambda Literary ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9781573221566ISBN:1573221562
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket has some edgewear present. A former library book with the usual identifiers in a protective glossy dust jacket covering. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Very Good. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Virago, London
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9781860496929ISBN:186049692X
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Almost as new. Very faint spine crease. No markings or edgewear. Pages bright and tight. 368p.; 20 cm. A Virago V.. Originally published: 1999. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9781573228732ISBN:1573228737
Description: Good. Cover has edge wear and bumped corners. Front cover has one inch chip on fore edge and several light creases near spine. Pages have no marks, bends or tears. Binding tight but with two creases. Not a remainder. read more
Edition: Reprint
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9781573221566ISBN:1573221562
Description: Good in Fair jacket. 1573221562 This book has some shelf wear as well as the inside cover ripped out and a black ink mark on the bottem of the pages. An upper-class woman recovering from a suicide attempt, Margaret Prior has begun visiting the women's ward of Millbank prison, London's grimmest jail, as part of her rehabilitative charity work. Amongst Millbank's murderers and common thieves, Margaret finds herself increasingly fascinated by one apparently innocent inmate, the enigmatic ... read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Riverhead Trade
Date Published: 2002-01-08
ISBN-13:9781573228732ISBN:1573228737
Description: Very Good. Very Good Condition. Binding tight, pages clean. Light edge-wear. Light handler's smudges to edge of pages-nothing on surface page. Lovely copy! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: VIRAGO (LITT)
Date Published: 2005-10-27
ISBN-13:9781860496929ISBN:186049692X
Description: New. Trade Size soft back book New with no jacket as issued * Unmarked*Ships in a padded water tight bubble bag* All merchandise is fully guaranteed* Buy from a professional company that cares about your satisfaction*G. read more
Edition: First American Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Riverhead Books, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9781573221566ISBN:1573221562
Description: Just About Very Good/Very Good. 1573221562. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Virago Press Ltd
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9781860496929ISBN:186049692X
Description: Good. PAPERBACK BOOK-GOOD OVERALL CONDITION-TRUSTED DEVON (UK) BASED SELLER-IN STOCK-SENT WITHIN 1 WORKING DAY-AVAILABLE BY EMAIL FOR QUERIES-NO QUIBBLE REFUND IF NOT COMPLETELY SATISFIED- read more
"Two things I like about Sarah Waters: 1-Everything is twisted, like a Hitchcock movie. In other Waters stories I've been exposed to, its okay that the bad gal screws over the main character because the main character is happy in the end (In Tipping the Velvet, main character finds 'true love'; in Fingersmith, same, plus forgiveness). In this story, however, bad gal gets away with it and main character realizes how stupid she was...not quite a happy ending, but still a fun ride for all that. 2-Waters stories hit me personally. I never would have said that my perspective was Victorian, but the difficulty Waters' characters have "coming out" must mirror my own, as I felt all that old ache, longing, shame and anxiety I remember.
So, I guess I have to say that either I am not a 'neutral' reviewer, or Sarah Waters is a great writer."
"Sarah Waters is a real talent, there's no questioning that. And if you haven't read one of her books, I request that you start straight away, beginning with Fingersmith, because it is sure to whet your appetite for more.
I think, however, that because I started off with Tipping the Velvet (which I really liked), and then moved onto Fingersmith (loved), I had this expectation that each book would be better than the last. And I think that's a bit unfair to Ms Waters, because this was a book of superior quality. But it just wasn't, in my opinion, as superior as Fingersmith. Which makes it difficult to wonder whether I'll be too biased in my review. Oh well.
The reason I feel I can particularly compare the two is that they are both written in the Victorian era and have some similar settings. The entirety of Affinity takes place in a women's prison, where Margaret Prior, a plain, almost 30 year old woman comes to comfort and help the women contained behind its bars as a 'Lady Visitor'. Then she meets Selina Dawes. Selina is a prisoner and a spiritual medium, locked in for fraud and possible assault after a session with a client goes horribly wrong. Selina has the face and repose of an angel, or some other celestial being, and her budding relationship with Margaret turns Margaret to the past - to the love of a woman who in the end chose her brother instead of her. Margaret's life with her mother is depressing to herself and the reader, and we see her anxiety at being left behind to grow old and loveless without true companionship. We flit back and forth between Margaret's diary observations of her time at the women's prison, and Selina Dawes' own memories of her past, and the puzzle of the story shows to be drawing together as Margaret and Selina's relationship becomes one of forbidden passion and desire. Margaret, a staunch realist after her own brief and secret dance with madness, believes Selina's spiritual talent to at first be false or a figment of Selina's imagination in her madness, but then strange things start to happen, and Margaret begins to believe in magic. But is believing the wonderful risk that it appears to be for Margaret's one chance at happiness, or something that offers a denial of reality's true face?
The book is strange and often haunting. I found myself a little bit creeped out in places, particularly in the parts of the novel where we relive some of Selina's 'sessions' with her very own gentleman spirit, Peter Quick, joining the party. I would say that these parts are not downright scary in the way of the horror genre, but they are unsettling, almost eerie, and do a great job in portraying what Selina's clients must have felt paying their money and joining the circle for a chance to speak with those on the 'other side'.
Affinity is not as openly sexual in the way that Fingersmith and Tipping the Velvet are, with its scenes of lesbian sexual intercourse, but in its own way it could be seen to be even more erotic, as Waters masterfully holds the forbidden fruit just out of Margaret's reach, leaving her sorely tempted and a willing victim to her desire for Selina. A desire that can never be acted out physically whilever the prison bars exist between them.
Margaret is a somewhat unlikely protagonist, she seems so unsure of herself a lot of the time, and therefore vulnerable - I wonder what lesson she learns in the end. But all the same she is a well-crafted character and her flaws complement Selina's character, which is equally well done. So in instances where Margaret seems vulnerable, Selina is strong, and where Selina seems on the edge of despair, Margaret assumes the stoic position of self belief. I found myself believing in Selina's love for Margaret even where Margaret's belief faltered, and she couldn't imagine such a beautiful creature falling in love with such a plain woman as her.
In the end the book was superbly written, perhaps not as taut as Fingersmith but certainly not a disappointing offering from Ms Waters. But I have to say, I like my novels with more light than shadow, and this one had no light. It depressed me so that I was hurrying to end the book so i could be happy again. For those who love to wallow in the dank dark corners of the world without relief, this is a perfect novel. But for me, the shackles became a little too heavy, and I was straining to be free again.
""Pa used to say that any piece of history might be made into a tale; it was only deciding where the tale began, and where it ended."
Since it's October, the month of Halloween, I decided to read a book that promised to be creepy. This novel by Sarah Waters fit the bill nicely on a number of levels. The setting is Victorian London. There are two female leads, Margaret Prior, a nervous, pale, and unhappy girl who decides to visit lady prisoners at Millbank Prison after the death of her father. The other principal character is one of those prisoners, Selina Dawes, a spiritualist convicted of causing the death of her patron. This is in many ways a classic gothic novel, complete with creepy settings, mourning for lost loves, ghosts (maybe), and an undercurrent of passion. The story unfolds in chapters that alternate between Margaret's diary and Selina's. Waters never fails to pen page turners, and this one had me up late, anxious to see how the tangled web of the plot unraveled itself. The plot has more twists than London streets, a real pleasure."
"For the past year I've gotten into a loop of sucky books. Well, maybe they don't actually suck, it's just that I don't like them.
The idiot me keeps spending (wasting) money on books that make me feel sad for the waste of paper. This is one of those books I wish I had not read.
For those who wonder: I have nothing against same sex relationships. In fact, I am more than happy to find books with characters and plots revolving around the theme.
What went wrong in this book for me? The writing was dull and boring. It has indeed captured the feeling of routine and obnoxious feeling that the characters had, but it just made me feel uneasy reading it. There are better, more pleasing-to-read ways of doing so.
The ending was... Surprising, I agree. But it was not worth the length and effort of going through with the book.
This was my first novel by the author. I have another one that I'm going to read now. I hope its style is different and more appealing to me..."
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