Fingersmith
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.The New York Times Book Review has called Sarah Waters a writer of "startling power" and The Seattle Times has praised her work as "gr
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A young thief in 1860s London is enlisted to pose as a maid in a country estate, win the heiress's trust, and help her swindler partner marry the woman. Inside the house, the plan starts coming apart.
Fingersmith was written by Sarah Waters and published in 2002. It is the third of her Victorian historical novels, after Tipping the Velvet and Affinity. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Orange Prize.
Yes. The BBC adapted Fingersmith in 2005 with Sally Hawkins. The 2016 South Korean film The Handmaiden, directed by Park Chan-wook, is also adapted from Fingersmith, transposing the setting to colonial Korea and Japan.
Fingersmith is 560 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Fingersmith takes most readers 8 to 12 hours to finish.
Fingersmith is a standalone novel by an unknown author, not part of a series.
Fingersmith is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
