Fingersmith

About halfway through Fingersmith, I thought, "Oh no, not another plot twist".

The huge number of plot twists (along with the red herrings the author throws out along the way) is the most notable feature of this book. They're all neatly tied up at the end, though, with no reaching by the author, Sarah Waters, to have it make sense. This is almost unique among books which change direction as much as Fingersmith does.

Fingersmith is a melodrama set in Victorian England. An elopement, thieves, lunatic asylums, pornographers and tyrannical relatives all make an appearance, along with sighing and blushing heroines (though as far as I can recall, no one faints which seems a lost opportunity for a novel set in the 1800s).

One of the curious aspects is that all of the characters, viewed dispassionately, are fairly awful. In pursuit of their own interests they will trample anyone who gets in their way. The two heroines take turns playing victim and villain, though it's not clear until the end which role they're playing when.

Despite the selfishness, the author uses the love affair that develops between the two heroines to make them sympathetic to the reader. Their sincere attachment to each other helped to keep me engaged in the story and to care what happened to them. The two women's lack of control over the conditions of their lives (one because of poverty and the other because of a social system that disadvantages even rich women) helped mitigate some of the cruelty they displayed toward others. It didn't excuse it, but it at least made it comprehensible.

Fingersmith is a melodrama and a thriller with two women at the heart of it. While I don't know I'll ever re-read it, it was entertaining and certainly very clever.